Quarter Life Crisis
by Em Pataki
Summary: Click on the first chapter for the description. Rated T for mild romance scenes.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, This is going to be a long story, so I will post it chapter by chapter. Here is the synopsis….**

 **Eugene doesn't feel like he fits in, which depresses Sheena, which makes Lila angry. Arnold slowly loses confidence when he can't help them. Helga begins to lose her motivation when this happens to him. Phoebe fears she has failed at helping her friend cheer up. Rhonda looks for a way to escape the drama. Nadine feels her interests are meaningless when everyone begins to change.**

 **Sid freaks out at the idea of living life the wrong way now that Arnold isn't there to solve all his problems. Stinky also realizes with Arnold looking down, he has no one to encourage him in his tough times.**

 **Normally Gerald is logical, calm and a bit pessimistic towards society. All this chaos has made him downright aggressive. He has to find a way to fix Arnold, so Arnold can fix the class. Gerald forces Harold and the rest of the boys to help.**

 **In case you couldn't tell, everyone is acting the complete opposite of how they normally would. How they act are all symptoms of what a person experiences in a 'Quarter Life Crisis' hence the title.**

 **Please ENJOY and REVIEW!**

Chapter 1: I Don't Fit In

I've said it before, I'll say it again. The best quote from this show was… _This is real life, and in real life, you can't always win._

Some of the characters on this show knew that to begin with. There are some who imply it without even knowing it. Then there are others who feel they have no need to give into the idea, no matter how hard life smacks them in the face with it.

It was the middle of their eighth grade year. Arnold was happy to be with his aggressive yet passionate girlfriend. Gerald was as cool with their relationship as Phoebe was supportive of it. Everything was going smoothly, or so they thought…

 _P.S. 118 Hallway_

"You ready to discuss that new topic Simmons brought up yesterday, buddy?" Gerald asked his friend, leaning against the locker.

"I guess. It seems a little strange to be worrying about something like that at our age though." Arnold replied, shutting the door to his locker.

"I think we all know by now how open-minded that guy is." Gerald pointed out.

"Yeah, but still, I…." Arnold was then interrupted by a loud crash from a ways down the hall. He and Gerald turned their heads to see Eugene had slipped on a sheet of paper someone had attempted to throw away that had missed the trash can.

Seeing the poor boy struggle to pull his head out of the trash can, Gerald shook his head and said "Mm, mm, mmm! There's no hope for that kid."

"Oh come on Gerald. It's not that bad."

"Arnold, have you EVER seen that guy go a day without hurting himself? A day without tripping, falling, or doing SOMETHING to imply he's not as clumsy as…"

"Oh my Eugene!"

Before Gerald could finish, he and Arnold watched Sheena race over to rescue him. After watching the sweet girl pull her friend out of the trash can, Arnold simply sighed and headed towards class.

 _Classroom_

 _Oh Arnold! My beloved! Only you can change my life when I'm truly feeling down! Never are you afraid to fail! Where would I be without your optimistic personality? Without your…_

"Helga? Helga? Helga!" A voice called, as Helga quickly turned away from her notebook to face her best friend who was sitting beside her.

"Huh? What?"

"I was merely asking if you enjoyed your time with Arnold last night?" Phoebe wondered, while a smile formed on her friend's face as she thought back to the night.

* _Previous Night*_

 _Avon Theater_

"So what movie did you want to see?" Arnold asked, looking at the choices they were given.

"Think you can handle the new Evil Twin movie without wetting your pants?" Helga asked, giving him an evil grin.

"Only if you hold my hand during it." he smiled, hearing a heavy swoon release from her.

After staring into his sweet eyes a moment, she shook her head and said "You're on headboy!"

As Arnold was buying the tickets, Helga heard someone approaching from behind her.

"Why hello Helga?"

Rolling her eyes at the sound of the voice, Helga turned to see an annoyingly sweet classmate of hers standing there.

"Are you and Arnold here to see a movie together?" Lila asked.

 _No, we just came to stand outside for an hour. Sheesh!_ Helga thought to herself. Before she could say anything to make her perky classmate leave, Arnold returned with the tickets.

"Oh, hey Lila. What movie are you seeing?"

"I'm ever so certain I haven't decided." she smiled, as Helga glared, hoping to send the message she wasn't welcome to join them.

"I guess we'll see you at school then." Arnold waved, turning to see the angry look on Helga's face.

"What's wrong?"

"Aren't you 'ever so sick' of her? I mean criminy! All she ever does is act sweet and innocent. The saying goes sweet and sour, not sweet and sweeter." Helga scoffed, following her boyfriend to the snack stand.

"Umm I hope you're not still jealous, because I don't like her anymore."

Rolling her eyes, Helga scoffed "I think you mean you don't like her - like her. You obviously still like her."

"Not enough to hold _her_ hand during the movie." he smiled, watching Helga's eyes fall half-lidded. Despite the inconveniences she experienced from time to time, she knew Arnold would always be there to comfort her.

 _Classroom_

"Eh, it was okay. Football head made it through without any nightmares." Helga said, as she turned her head to see her boyfriend entering the classroom.

Taking his seat in front of her, Arnold turned to smile at his girlfriend and said "I had a good time at the movies last night."

Helga began to blush as these sweet words. Before she could respond, the class turned their heads to hear…

"Good morning class! Today's going to be a special day, now that we get to discuss our topic I told you about yesterday!"

"Unless you're a lonely, pathetic, poor person whose life started out meaningless to begin with, I really don't see why this is necessary." Rhonda said, leaning back in her chair.

Giving a perplexed look, Mr. Simmons replied "Yes, well we're going to be discussing…Quarter Life Crisis Signs."

"What in the heck are those?" Stinky asked, not having heard of such a thing.

"Quarter Life Crisis. It's when a person begins to feel doubtful of their own lives. Here are some examples.

Don't Feel Like You Fit In

Depressed

Frustrated

Loses Confidence

No Motivation

Fear You Have Failed

Escapism

Detachment; Life Is Meaningless

Life Is A Lie

Never Go The Extra Step; It Won't Change Anything

Feeling Trapped

Being Forced To Do Something With No Options

As Mr. Simmons reviewed these traits one by one, Arnold didn't feel there was anything to worry about. Everytime he or one of his friends had a problem, he knew there was a way to fix it. He was the class problem solver; the word fail was not in his vocabulary.

While a smile remained on his face, Helga sat behind him rolling her eyes at the list of traits. She possessed a realistic way of thinking that reminded her these traits were always going to be a part of life. All except ONE that is…

Despite how unfathomably depressing her life had always seemed, she made it through those hard times because she DID have something to motivate her. Be it sitting in front of her in class, waiting around the corner on the street, or joining her in her dreams. She never had to worry about losing it...or him.

When the bell for lunch came, Arnold turned in his seat and asked "Ready for lunch Helga?"

"Sure football head." she replied, not concerned about the topics having been discussed that morning.

 _Cafeteria_

Standing in the lunch line with her best friend, Helga listened to Phoebe ask "What did you think of the lecture this morning Helga?"

Shrugging her shoulders at the question, Helga replied "All it did was imply Mr. Special's giddy performances every morning are his way of hiding the sad truths about life."

While the girls were grabbing lunch, the boys were sitting at a table in the center of the cafeteria.

"Since when does Pataki buy you lunch?" Gerald asked.

"She said she wanted to pay me back for the movie last night." Arnold smiled, seeing Gerald lift an eyebrow at the unusual gesture.

Arnold then looked down to see a tray of food placed in front of him, as he listened to his girlfriend say "Here ya go football head."

"Tha…"

Before finishing his sentence, the group turned to see Eugene had once again tripped and slid across the floor. After crashing into a cart filled with trays of unfinished meals, the group listened to him say… "OW! I'm okay!"

"Oh brother! What a klutz!" Helga scoffed.

"I'm afraid he does tend to experience one or two more physical flaws a day than the average person is known to have happen." Phoebe said regretfully, while listening to her boyfriend say "A few?"

Wrapping his arm around his girlfriend's shoulder, Arnold sighed and said "It's not THAT bad you guys."

"Arnold, wake up and smell the coffee. The guy broke every bone in his body riding his bike, slid off the rode both times in the Grand Prix Go Kart race, had his goldfish killed, three birthday parties wrecked, got framed for pulling the fire alarm…"

"What Geraldo is trying to say football head, is that doofus is as likely to go a day without hurting himself as Pink boy is to go a day without eating."

"At least he's always smiling. He doesn't let things like this bring him down in life."

"Whatever you say Arnold." Gerald shook his head, feeling his friend tended to over do it with the optimism from time to time.

 _Classroom_

"Thanks for carrying my things Sheena!" Eugene said, seeing his friend help him back to class after his accident in the cafeteria.

"I was happy to help! Are you sure you'll be okay?" Sheena asked worriedly.

Rubbing his leg that he could feel a bruise already forming on, Eugene replied "I'm sure I'll be fine."

Sheena walked over to her desk just as the rest of the kids were beginning to enter the room. While most of them didn't care to consider what had happened in the cafeteria to be anything unusual, Arnold felt the need to see how his clumsy classmate was doing.

"Hey Eugene. How's your leg?"

"Oh, it's fine Arnold. I'm sure the feeling will come back by the end of the week." Eugene replied, seeing a frown form on Arnold's face.

"Uhh maybe you should go to the nurse's office."

"That's okay. I've still got my wheelchair from a few years ago when we tried breaking all those world records. It's really come in handy since then!" Eugene smiled, while Arnold's frown grew even bigger.

Just the thought of Eugene not finding this to be depressing was beginning to upset Arnold. The last thing he wanted was to take away his optimism however.

"Well, I'm glad you're okay." Arnold sighed, walking over to his desk.

As he sat down, he listened to his girlfriend scoff "What happened? Did Mr. Wrecks-a-lot invite you to his next performance?"

Rolling his eyes at the remark, Arnold replied "I just wanted to make sure he was okay."

"A damaged leg caused by a slide across a hard floor, topped off by non stop laughter from the whole school who received a front row viewing of it. He may be; I can't speak for his dignity." Gerald said wittily, seeing Arnold roll his eyes yet again.

Just then, the kids turned their heads to see the teacher enter the classroom. "Hello boys and girls. I hope you all enjoyed lunch."

Hearing the constant snickers of his friends about what had happened during it was upsetting Arnold. All he wanted to do was do something to fix Eugene. Even if it wasn't bothering Eugene that these kinds of things were happening to him, it wasn't fun seeing the rest of the class get a kick out of his inconveniences.

When classes at last ended, Arnold looked to see Eugene struggling to get out of his desk. As he continued to watch his friend having a hard time get up, Arnold heard his girlfriend ask "Ready to go football head?"

"Huh? Oh umm I'll be right back Helga." Arnold said, seeing her cock her brow.

Helga rolled her eyes when she saw he was going to check on their clumsy classmate…

 _Oh brother! When is he going to catch a clue? That kid is un-jynxable!_

"Hey Eugene. Do you need me to walk you home?" Arnold asked, seeing his friend at last stand from his desk.

"Oh, that's okay Arnold. I….OW! I'm okay." Eugene exclaimed, tripping over his backpack.

Arnold began rubbing his neck, not sure of how to say Eugene WASN'T okay, without making him lose his optimism.

"Uhh Eugene. I really would like to walk you home if you don't mind."

"Gosh Arnold. Are you sure?" the clumsy boy asked.

"It's no problem. Wait here while I talk to Helga."

"Gee Arnold. You're a pal!"

As Eugene sat in his chair, waiting for his escort, Arnold went over to his anxiously waiting girlfriend and said "Umm Helga. I'm going to walk Eugene home if that's okay."

"Pttss...whatever. Come on Pheebs!" Helga insisted, knowing what a waste of time it would be for her boyfriend to try and help someone who had proven time and time again how unfixable he was.

"Coming!" Phoebe chirped, following her best friend out the door.

Gerald then stood from his seat before allowing Arnold to return to the hopeless classmate and said "You sure about this buddy?"

"Yeah. He needs me."

"Whatever you say Arnold."

 _Walk To Phoebe's_

"Can you believe football head? Wasting his time helping a loser like that!" Helga scoffed, as she headed towards her best friend's house.

"I believe the purpose of Arnold's friendly gestures is to encourage our classmates to look on the bright side in their most troublesome times." Phoebe reminded her friend, knowing it was what she treasured most about him.

 _Walk To Eugene's_

"You didn't have to do this Arnold." Eugene reminded him, limping along the way. Arnold held Eugene's bag in one hand, trying to hold his injured friend up with the other.

"I wanted to make sure you got home safely." Arnold said, about to cross the street.

"Actually Arnold, can we stop by the bookstore? The new Abdicator book is finally out! I've been wanting to buy a copy."

"Sure Eugene." Arnold smiled, happy to know there was something that would cheer his friend up.

 _Phoebe's Room_

Sitting on the floor with their books, working on their math assignment, Phoebe looked over to see her friend staring blankly at the open book in front of her. She recognized the look on Helga's face. One she carried when a problem pertaining to a certain something (or someone) was on her mind.

"If I may say so, that was a lovely thing you did for Arnold today Helga."

Cocking her brow at her friend, Helga asked "What _lovely_ thing?"

"Buying him lunch. It was quite a sweet gesture." Phoebe reminded her friend.

Shrugging her shoulders at the comment, Helga replied "Eh, I think he's bought me enough tapioca for one year."

"I understand your frustration with his optimism. Keep in mind however, how meaningless your life would feel if it were to lack something so valuable."

Helga let out a deep sigh as she continued to listen to her friend.

"Although you tend to think realistically, Arnold's abstract way of thinking has been the inspiration behind your hopes for a pleasing life." Phoebe reminded her.

"Thanks Pheebs."

 _Lamoreaux's Bookstore_

"Thanks for bringing me here Arnold! I'm really excited about this book!" Eugene said, not thinking about his injury.

"It was no problem." Arnold reminded him, walking him up to the front desk.

"Excuse me ma'am. I'd like a copy of the new Abdicator book!" Eugene said excitedly.

"I'm sorry, we're sold out." The employee said bluntly as Eugene's jaw dropped.

"We sold our entire shipment the first day, so it'll be awhile before we get more in."

While Arnold's eyes widened in disbelief, Eugene's fell to the floor. As hard as he tried to overlook the hard things in life, he felt he had reached his endpoint.

 _Walk To Eugene's_

"I'm really sorry Eugene! It'll be out again before you know it." Arnold said, hoping to cheer him up.

"Oh it's not just the book Arnold." Eugene sighed, not taking his eyes off the ground.

"What is it?"

"My whole life I've watched other kids laugh, enjoy what they're doing, and look forward to things. Something always manages to go wrong when I try to have fun. Kids laugh AT me. I hurt myself when I start to enjoy what I'm doing. I can't look forward to anything without it ending badly. I'm just not like you and the other kids. I don't fit in." Eugene sighed, approaching his front porch.

As depressing as Eugene's life was, he had always been the most optimistic person Arnold had ever known (aside from himself). Now here he was, convinced he might as well give into the idea of expecting as well as accepting everything he did to end tragically.

"That's not true Eugene. No one's life is perfect."

"I'm going inside. Thanks for the help." Eugene grabbed his bag, limping up the porch steps. Arnold stood and thought about how normally in times like these, he was able to do something to help his friends. Eugene's constant unlucky stream tied together with his classmate's unsupportive behavior was causing him to lose his confidence however.

 _Walk Home_

 _Maybe everyone was right. Maybe there are just some people you can't change no matter how hard you try. Maybe..._ OW!

Rounding the corner of the street, Arnold bumped heads with his girlfriend. "Arnold!"

"Sorry Helga. I didn't mean for that to take so long."

"Uhh don't mention it. So, how's klutzilla?" she asked, dusting herself off.

Letting out a deep sigh, Arnold replied "I don't know. Normally Eugene bounces right back. I'm not sure how much more of this he can take."

"Pttss...I think you mean, how much more the world can take FROM him." Helga smirked.

After not receiving a response, Helga took notice of the sad look in her boyfriend's eyes. A look that cried out hopeless. As annoying as his optimism maybe at times, it was what she found to be his most admirable quality. His constant ability to look on the bright side was what gave her a reason to believe it was possible her life even had one. How was this feeling supposed to remain with her if he continued to feel this way?

Taking his hand in hers, she began to rub it gently as she said "Cheer up football head. It's not your fault that guy has no coordination skills. Let's go grab a shake. I'm buying."

Smiling sweetly as his girlfriend, the two walked hand in hand down the street as Arnold said "If you don't mind my asking, how'd you get the money to buy lunch _and_ have some left over for ice cream?"

 _*Before School*_

 _Helga's House_

"Criminy Miriam! Can't you find some other place to pass out?!" Helga scowled, snatching her lunchbox from underneath her mother.

As she opened to see the usual moist towelettes and crackers that her mother had considered to be a suitable lunch for her grade school daughter, Helga felt a set of arms wrapped around her.

"Good morning baby sister! How are you?!"

"Get off me! I can't breathe for crying out loud!" Helga scowled, fighting her way out of her sister's arms.

"Is that your lunchbox?" Olga asked, seeing Helga roll her eyes at the dense question.

"No, it's my backpack." she said sarcastically.

"Did mommy do a good job with your lunch?"

"That depends on what you consider good?" Helga scoffed, grabbing her backpack.

"Let me give you some money! Daddy gave me a bunch the other day when he asked me to go shopping for a chocolate cake to celebrate his new cell phone commercial. I decided to just bake it myself."

 _Of course you did..._ Helga rolled her eyes, watching her sister race towards her purse.

"Here you go baby sister!" Olga screeched, handing Helga the money, as she snatched and smirked "Pttss...thanks."

 _Slausens_

"So he had a bad day, big deal. Like you said, the kid always bounces back." Helga reminded her boyfriend, as they sat in the parlor awaiting their treats.

"I guess you're right. I just can't stand seeing him so alone."

"Pttss...please. That kid doesn't know what alone is." Helga blurted out, without thinking.

Arnold looked up to see the desolate look on his girlfriend's face, knowing what she was referring to. The emptiness she felt from the constant neglection her family forced upon her. The pain she experienced from the unrequited love she felt before having the courage to reveal her feelings to her beloved.

Seeing the comforting look in his eyes as he reached across the table for her hand, Helga gulped and said "Uhhh I mean, I'm sure he'll survive; long as he's got someone like you to watch him hehe."

The waitress then came to hand them their drinks as she said "Here ya go darling. Two extra large triple chocolate shakes."

Helga quickly took her hand back, relieved at the chance to forget about what she had just said. As she sat quietly sipping her shake, she watched her boyfriend sadly stirring his.

Arnold then looked up to see his girlfriend set her cherries on top of his milkshake "What's this for?"

"Those idiots forgot your cherries. Apparently me asking for an extra cherry to them means 'no cherries for him.' What a bunch of dweebs."

A warm smile then came to his face. The one she had been waiting to see all day. With his half lidded emerald eyes fixated on her shy sapphire ones, he once again reached across the table for her hand. Caressing it with his thumb, he said softly "Thanks for believing in me."

"Well doi! Of course I believe in you! They wouldn't give the title 'Number One Problem Solver' to just anyone."

"Whatever you say Helga."

 _Helga's House_

After a long evening of discussing emotional conflictions and the reasons behind them, Arnold walked his girlfriend home.

"Guess I'll see you tomorrow football head." Helga sighed, hoping the next day would go better for everyone. As admirable as Arnold's helpful qualities were, even he had his put down moments. Seeing him in such a sorry state of affairs put Helga through her toughest times. His optimism was the inspiration behind her hope for a happy life. Without that, what did she have to live for?

Standing outside her front door, holding her hands in the moonlight, he smiled at the one person he knew would always believe in _him_ no matter how little faith she had in his dreams.

Pulling her close to meet his lips, Arnold held her face in his hands, relieved at the idea of having someone he never had to worry about letting down.

"Sweet dreams." he smiled, watching her lovesick smile form. The one implying a swoon was dying to be released.

"See ya football head."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Depressed

 _P.S. 118_

Walking down the hall towards class the next morning, Gerald turned to his quiet friend and asked "What's up with you?"

Realizing how quiet he had been, Arnold turned to his friend and said "I'm sorry Gerald. I've just got some things on my mind."

Knowing what he must be thinking about, Gerald rolled his eyes and said "Look man, if you're still worried about Eugene you're wasting your time. That kid always bounces back."

Before responding, the boys then turned their heads to hear…

"Oh, there you are Eugene! Why didn't you sit with me on the bus this morning?" Sheena asked curiously.

Carrying a sorrowful look on his face, Eugene turned to face his sweet friend and said "You don't want to hang out with me Sheena."

"What do you mean?" she asked with a concerned look on her face.

"Everytime I try to have fun something horrible happens. It's best if I stay away from everyone." Eugene insisted, making his way towards class.

As the upset boy made his way down the hall, Gerald lifted an eyebrow and said "Then again…"

 _Classroom_

Sitting in her desk with her head propped in her hand, Helga listened to her best friend ask "Did you happen to see Arnold last night Helga?"

Not feeling the need to mention their emotional discussion, Helga turned to face her friend and replied "Eh, he and I bumped into each other. Football head still can't learn how NOT to cut corners too sharply."

As Phoebe was about to continue the conversation, she turned her head towards the door to hear…

"I'm ever so certain he'll be just fine Sheena." Lila said, following her concerned classmate to her desk.

Helga began to roll her eyes, knowing who the girls had to be concerned about. That is, until she saw her boyfriend entering the room, with a similar look on _his_ face.

Taking his seat in front of his girlfriend, Arnold sighed and asked "How are you this morning Helga?"

Helga stared blankly at her boyfriend, noticing the once again depressing facial expression he had been carrying the previous night. "Uhh okay I guess."

Rather than continuing on the conversation, Arnold turned to face the front of the room. Phoebe turned to see the stunned look on her best friend's face. Every morning, Arnold greeted her, talked about how their night and mornings were since they had last seen each other, and held her hand until they had no choice but to let go.

Phoebe knew she couldn't ask Helga then and there what was going on between the two of them. All she could do was wait until lunch.

With Arnold sitting quietly in his desk, Helga's mind racing with thoughts about it, Gerald annoyed at Arnold's overly depressive state, and Phoebe anxious to speak with Helga, the four friends sat quietly avoiding each other.

Arnold sighed to himself about Eugene's (what seemed to be) unhelpable problem, until he overheard…

"Don't worry Sheena. I'm ever so certain he's just having a bad week."

"Oh but Eugene never lets anything bother him!" Sheena insisted, unsure of what to do.

As Arnold sat there, wondering if he should get up and speak with Eugene, he heard…

"Good morning class! It's going to be another very special day!" Mr. Simmons said, while none of the students cared to pay attention (let alone reply).

Ignoring the Science lecture the overly enthusiastic teacher was beginning on, Phoebe's attention went from Arnold glancing occasionally at Eugene, to her best friend staring sadly at her notebook.

Normally when Helga wrote in her notebook, her lips curved into a small smile, while her eyes contained a dreamy expression. Phoebe didn't have to ask to know what she was thinking about when she saw her friend making that face.

When Phoebe looked over at Helga this time however, she was carrying a despairing look she hadn't seen in a few years. Not since the week Helga came to her for advice about what to do with her unhealthy obsession with 'ice cream.'

Seeing her friend in this state of affair made it hard for the young Asian girl to focus on anything being said in class.

After the next few hours finally past, Helga looked up from her notebook when she noticed her boyfriend turning around in his seat. "Ready to eat?"

As she began to put away her things, Phoebe quickly jumped in and said "If it's alright with you Arnold, I'd like to eat alone with Helga. There's something I need to discuss with her."

Shrugging his shoulders, Arnold replied "Alright then."

Helga once again found this to be a bit hurtful. It was as if he was implying he could 'take or leave' his time with her. That is, by the way he was so quick to dismiss her.

Staring down at her desk, Helga listened to her best friend ask "I can't help but feel something maybe going on between the two of you?"

Helga lifted her head as she rolled her eyes and scoffed "Don't look at me. I'm not the one moping over this class' selection of geeks."

"Be that as it may, Arnold's not one to ignore what he considers to be a crisis situation."

"What's your point?" Helga scoffed, not thinking anything serious had occurred recently.

"He has always thought of it as his job to take the weight of our class' struggles on his shoulders. The idea of failing to help another person with their problems is emotionally devastating for him."

 _Cafeteria_

Sitting in the cafeteria with a tray of untouched food, Arnold looked across the room to see Eugene sitting all by his lonesome.

 _Maybe I should go over and talk to him…_

"What are you doing man?" Gerald asked, noticing his best friend rising from the table.

Before Arnold could reply, he looked over to see Sheena and Lila approaching Eugene. Arnold slowly sat back down in his seat as he replied "Uhhh nevermind."

"Whatever you say Arnold."

 _Another Table_

"Here you are Eugene. This health food plate should cheer you up! It contains nothing sweet that may cause you to fall into a depressive state." Sheena said happily as she eagerly sat the tray down in front of him.

"No thanks." he sighed, pushing aside the tray. Eugene then stood from his chair to leave the cafeteria, as Sheena and Lila stood watching him stare at the ground.

"I'm ever so sorry Sheena." Lila said in a sympathetic voice, placing a hand on her friend's shoulder.

 _Classroom_

"This could be the perfect opportunity for you to prove you're always there for him in his hour of need." Phoebe pointed out, as she watched her friend hold her head in her hand, leaning against her desk.

"I guess I…"

Just then, the rest of the class began to enter the room. A weak smile formed on Helga's face as she watched her boyfriend approach his desk.

Rather than saying he missed eating with her (or anything for that matter), Arnold simply sat in his desk, and waited for class to begin.

Helga couldn't help but feel a bit agitated. Yes, it was normal for her beloved to want to help people. It was one of the things she treasured most about him. Was failing at a task that technically wasn't even assigned to him worth being that upset over?

"Alright class. I have this week's poetry assignment for you! Isn't that exciting?" Mr. Simmons exclaimed, while the students began to groan at the idea.

Dismissing the thought of her favorite hobby, Helga leaned back in her chair with her arms crossed, glaring at her boyfriend. Was he really so lost in his thoughts he had to act as though she didn't exist?

"This week's assignment is going to be picking a trait you admire about _yourself._ Pick what you consider to be your most admirable quality, and I'll collect them next week." Mr. Simmons explained.

Helga continued to lean back in her chair unamused at the thought of writing it. Whenever she noticed something special about herself, it was because her boyfriend pointed it out to her. She knew she wasn't seen as admirable in anyone else's eyes.

Rather than taking the rest of the class period to think about her topic, she continued to glare at her (once thought to be) optimistic boyfriend…

 _Pttss...Arnold! Stupid football head and his uncanny desires to fix everyone else's problems! Why can't he just cut himself a break for once and mind his own freakin' business? Sheesh!_

When classes ended, Helga noticed Arnold glancing over in Eugene's direction. After rolling her eyes at his obsession with the clumsy boy's neediness, Helga stood to grab her bag.

As Arnold noticed her walking past him, he said "Wait for me Helga!"

"Pttss...why? Just so I can watch you ignore me for the rest of the afternoon." she scoffed as his eyes began to widen.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm _talking_ about the fact that ever since you walked in this morning, your eyes have been all over klutzilla over there. If you want to ask him out, fine. I've got better things to do with my time. Come on Pheebs!" Helga sneered, marching past her boyfriend.

"Be with you in a moment Helga." Phoebe replied, taking notice of the wide eyed facial expression Arnold was carrying.

"Is something bothering her Phoebe?" Arnold asked, not realizing how differently he had been acting the past two days. While it was clear to everyone else how imperative his problem solving was to him, Arnold wasn't always aware of the effect it had on him if he failed at it.

Gerald reminded him time and time again that not everything in life works out the way you want it to. That soul crushing piece of information was more than he could handle at times.

"I'm afraid your overwhelming concerns for our classmates minor problems have made themselves out to be more important than your feelings for her." Phoebe explained.

Arnold's eyes continued to grow, as he stood there speechless. Helga knew how fixated he was on helping other people. Did she really feel as though he saw her feelings as second to helping others?

After informing him of this, Phoebe left the classroom to follow her friend. Gerald then rose from his seat having gathered his things. "Mm, mm, mmm. So will you be taking this as a sign it's finally time to lay off the messiah business?"

Rolling his eyes at the remark, Arnold sighed and said "Let's go Gerald."

 _Hallway_

Standing in the hall, speaking to most of the girls from the class, Rhonda was going on about how much trouble she was already having choosing the perfect trait for her poem.

"This is meant to be our most admirable quality. I simply can't decide between stylish, rich, social…CRASH!"

Before finishing her list of traits to choose from, the girls turned their heads to see Eugene had slipped in a puddle by the water fountain.

Having seen this, Sheena rushed over to help him off the floor. "Oh my Eugene! Let me help you!"

"No, that's okay Sheena." he sighed, knowing he should just get used to this sort of thing happening to him. He was beginning to wonder why he hadn't given into expecting it a long time ago.

Sheena's heart began to ache as she watched her friend walk slowly down the hall and out the doors of the school.

 _Phoebe's House_

Sitting on the floor, leaning against her best friend's bed, Helga stared off into space with her open notebook in her lap.

A moment or so later, Phoebe looked up from her paper to see her friend ignoring the assignment.

"If I may say so Helga, Arnold was unaware of your feelings."

Helga turned her head to cock her brow, unsure of what her friend was referring to.

"What feelings?" she smirked.

Setting aside her notebook, Phoebe went on to say "Arnold has quite a bit of faith in your relationship. The last thing he expected was his mind wandering away from you for a few hours to cause as much pain as it did."

"Pttss...what pain? Just because he can't keep his head out of the clouds, doesn't mean a river of tears will start streaming down my face." she sighed, not wanting to admit her hurt feelings.

Phoebe knew that just because her friend's life long secret was out in the open, it didn't mean Helga had opened up to the idea of admitting when someone had hurt her. After being neglected her whole life, Helga wasn't about to confess to feeling weak.

 _Gerald Field_

"Like Phoebe said man, you're spending too much time fixating on other people's problems." Gerald reminded him as the boys tossed the ball back and forth across the field.

"I know but…"

"Besides, now you've got an even bigger problem to focus on." Gerald pointed out, seeing Arnold's eyes widen intensely.

"What are you talking about?"

"Well Pataki wasn't exactly thrilled about the idea of you feeling the class klutz deserved more attention than the class bully."

Rolling his eyes at the witty remark, Arnold sighed and said "I wasn't trying to ignore her."

"Tell that to her."

 _Helga's House_

After a long lonely walk home, Helga made it to her porch steps, sad she didn't have her beloved to say good night to. She glanced back behind her before going inside, picturing his sweet face standing there.

 _Hopefully he'll have snapped out of it by tomorrow!_

Helga then entered her house to see her family already eating dinner without her.

"I'm going to have to put another notch in my lucky belt Olga!" Bob exclaimed, digging into his daughter's famous casserole.

"I'm so glad you like it daddy! It's a special recipe I made myself for the sweet children I met in Alaska!"

Helga rolled her eyes at the idea of not being inside for a full minute and already she was having to listen to her sister brag about her accomplishments.

Rather than waiting for them to notice her (which she knew was highly unlikely), Helga headed for her bedroom to once again attempt to work on her assignment.

After entering her room, she tossed her backpack towards her bed and fell across it. Spreading her arms out, staring at the ceiling, she let out a deep sigh, thinking to herself…

 _How am I supposed to write about something I love about myself when Arnold's been the inspiration behind my work? Him and his bright sided way of thinking that's turned into a sorry state of affairs._

 _Boarding House_

After finishing his game of catch with Gerald, Arnold headed towards the boarding house. Walking past the sea of animals that poured out the door, Arnold entered the kitchen to see his grandpa sitting with the paper.

"Hey grandpa." he sighed, taking a seat beside him.

"Ohhh bad day?" Phil asked, setting aside his paper.

"I guess I'm just feeling a little down."

"About what? Your cranky friend with the big pink bow and the one eyebrow picking on you again?" Phil assumed.

Rolling his eyes, Arnold replied "Her name is Helga and she's my girlfriend."

"Hehe. Yes, yes I remember. Anywho, what's the problem?"

"I guess I'm just feeling upset because I'm not always able to solve everyone's problems. Then I kind of ignored Helga without realizing it, because I couldn't stop worrying about that."

"Looks like you created a new problem without realizing it! Hehe." Phil laughed.

"Grandpa…"

"Oh lighten up shortman. No one's good at everything. If that was true, do you really think I'd be spending half my nights in the bathroom after eating your grandma's cooking?"

"I guess not."

 _Helga's Bedroom_

"Criminy! This is hopeless!" Helga scowled, tossing yet another crumpled sheet of paper across the floor.

"I don't feel like I'm good at anything without Arnold to remind me of it. The old football head can't do that as long as he's in the useless, self-loathing daze that he's in." Helga smirked, laying across her bed.

Pulling her locket out of her shirt, she ran a finger across her beloved's face as she said…

 _Oh Arnold! Your poor tortured creature! Forgive me for not being there for you in your time of need my love! For not being there to remind you of your truly remarkable traits! Your uncanny ability to not only find the good in everyone, but to create it for those desperately in need of it! Be strong my love! I shall wait for you!_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: This Is So Frustrating

HEY ARNOLD! HEY ARNOLD! HEY ARNOLD!

After turning over to shut off his alarm, the first thought on Arnold's mind was…

 _Is Helga still upset with me?_

Normally his conflicts with her were one-sided. If there was ever a disagreement, he shook off any anger he felt and allowed her to have her way. Would that be the case this time? The whole reason she was upset was because of the lack of attention he had recently given her. It didn't seem right to just ignore the problem, and wait for her to come around.

Whatever the case, he knew he'd be seeing her soon enough. Once he was dressed and ready, Arnold headed downstairs for breakfast where he found his grandparents awaiting him with a plate of pancakes.

"Hey grandpa." Arnold sighed, ignoring the food placed in front of him.

"Hey shortman! Still upset about your girlfriend?"

"I guess I just didn't realize how ignored I made her feel. I was just trying to help our friends." he explained, pushing aside his food.

"Look shortman, it doesn't matter if you're with the prettiest girl in school or the meanest girl in town. Women will always want your attention! Oh sure, they may find all sorts of crazy ways to imply it like calling you names, throwing things at you, tripping you..." Phil went on, as Arnold rested his head in his hand.

"Uhhh grandpa. What's your point?"

"Unless you plan on being single the rest of your life, I'd suggest adding _her_ to that good deed list of yours. Hehe."

"Thanks grandpa." Arnold sighed, grabbing his backpack off the floor.

"See ya shortman!"

 _Walk To School_

"Did you happen to make any progress with your assignment when you returned home Helga?" Phoebe asked, walking to school with her friend.

Staring straight ahead with a hopeless facial expression, Helga replied "If you consider finishing off my notebook by ripping sheet after sheet of useless work out to be the same as finishing the assignment, then yeah. Piece of cake!"

"Perhaps if you were to speak with Arnold about your concerns. Simply tell him where your emotions currently lye, your mind will be at peace." Phoebe suggested, seeing the annoyed facial expression her friend was carrying.

"Look Pheebs, I...THUMP!"

Phoebe stood and watched her friend fall to the ground after bumping heads with her boyfriend. As Helga sat and held her head, Arnold immediately stood to hold out a hand for her.

"Sorry Helga!"

Helga sat holding her head as she looked at her boyfriend, wondering if she should ask if he was doing any better.

Tired of waiting, Gerald finally spoke "You know, just because you're sitting doesn't mean you're in your desk. We've still got a few blocks before we make it to school."

Helga's nervous expression then turned into a glare as she helped herself off the ground and scoffed "Pttss...who asked _you_ hairboy? Come on Pheebs!"

Rather than following right away, Phoebe stood beside the boys, wondering if the right thing to do would be to talk to Arnold _for_ Helga. As appreciative as Helga was of Phoebe being there to give her advice in her time of need, she didn't always follow through on her friend's suggestions. She found it to be more comforting than motivating.

While Phoebe stood feeling conflicted, Arnold stood feeling ashamed. It was obvious Helga was still upset with him. She wasn't going to want to speak with him if he wasn't able to ignore the problems of and tension caused by the other classmates.

"So, how's she doing Phoebe?' Arnold asked, seeing the young Asian girl turn to face him.

Frowning deeply at her friend, Phoebe replied "I'm afraid she's no better than yesterday."

"I was afraid of that." Arnold said, rubbing the back of his neck.

A pitiful smile came to Phoebe's face, as she placed a hand on her friend's shoulder and said "If I may ask, are _you_ doing any better Arnold?"

 _P.S. 118 Hallway_

Everyday Helga was tormented with conflicted emotions caused by her beloved. Be it the annoyance of his goody two shoes behavior or the overwhelming joy of his optimistic attitude. All she was beginning to feel now was anger from the idea that his constant moping was now making him neglect her just as her family had always done.

Stomping down the hallway, Helga shoved a classmate out of her way as she said "One side moron, I'm walking here!"

As Helga continued to march past the group of girls standing outside the classroom, they looked to see she had shoved Eugene down the nearest staircase.

After not hearing his usual remark, confirming there was no severe damage done, Sheena and Lila rushed to check on him.

 _Classroom_

Helga sat alone in her desk, with her propped in her hand. Rather than doodling in her notebook or thinking of what to write for her next poem, she sat wishing the day would hurry up and end.

Her eyes then glanced up as she noticed someone entering the room. Phoebe hesitantly approached her own desk to take a seat beside her friend, unsure of what to say. It was obvious Helga's mind was in other places, and not hard to figure out what it was on.

"I'm sorry I was late Helga." Phoebe said hesitantly.

Sighing at the apology, Helga said softly "Don't sweat it Pheebs."

 _Bottom of the Staircase_

Seeing the poor boy laying at the bottom of the staircase, Lila and Sheena rushed to help him up. "Oh my Eugene! Did you hurt yourself?"

Not allowing them to help him, Eugene stood and said "Why does it matter? I've never gone a day _without_ hurting myself."

Sheena then watched her clumsy friend make his way back up the staircase as Lila took notice of the heartbreaking look in Sheena's eyes.

 _Hallway_

"Man, would you just talk to her?" Gerald insisted, knowing it would be the only way Arnold's mind would be brought to peace.

"I can't just say to her 'I won't try to help anyone anymore' Gerald."

"Of course not." Gerald said, rolling his eyes at what he knew would never happen.

Before continuing on with the conversation, the boys stopped to see Eugene walking up the staircase.

"Mm, mm, mmm. Even losing his perkiness couldn't cure him of his jynxiness." Gerald said wittily.

Arnold stood trying to figure out what to do. Was spending his time worrying about helping who people felt were known to be lost causes worth ignoring his girlfriend?

His thoughts were then interrupted when he and Gerald heard two more people approaching the top of the stairs.

"I'm ever so certain we'll think of something Sheena." Lila insisted, placing a hand on her friend's shoulder.

Rather than responding, Sheena headed towards class with the same facial expression Eugene was wearing.

As Lila watched her friend walk away, Arnold turned to see something quite unusual.

"Umm are you okay Lila?"

"I'm just ever so frustrated!" she exclaimed, clenching her fists as Helga did when she felt the need to introduce someone to Ol' Betsy.

"What are you frustrated about?" he asked hesitantly, as Gerald lifted an eyebrow at the scene.

"Something ever so serious is troubling Eugene. It's lead to Sheena acting just ever so down." Lila explained, with an almost evil glare on her face.

"I'm sure everything will be fine Lila." Arnold gulped, not sure of what to do. He had never seen her like this before.

Arnold told Helga the first time he had ever seen her acting nice was her last performance on stage as the IT Girl...and he thought she was great. In no way did he find it strange; just pleasing.

Lila's sudden transformation however was a bit disturbing. As Helga had said the other night, the saying goes 'sweet and sour' not 'sweet and sweeter.' To see someone extra sweet suddenly spoil was just eerie.

"I have to go Arnold!" Lila stormed off, with her fists still clenched.

Arnold's eyes widened at both the sound of her voice and the sight of her actions. It was as if his girlfriend's traits had carried over to an entirely different classmate.

"Perhaps it _is_ best you stay away from Pataki. That feisty attitude of hers appears to be contagious." Gerald lifted an eyebrow, standing behind his friend in disbelief.

 _Classroom_

While most of the students had made it to class at that point, Helga continued to remain silently in her desk with her head propped in her hand until she noticed an angry redhead marching into the room.

After seeing the unusual performance, Helga lifted her head to cock her brow as she listened to her best friend ask "What do you suppose happened Helga?"

"Pttss...beats me? Maybe Little Ms. Perfect ran out of funny farm jokes." she scoffed, leaning back in her chair with her arms crossed.

Helga then glanced over at the door to see the last two students arriving. She watched her boyfriend take a seat in front of her, doing his best to avoid eye contact.

Phoebe looked over to see the aggravating look forming on her friend's face. She knew when Helga was being pushed to far, and her friend was about to show it.

Arnold sat in his desk, thinking about how strange things had gotten all in the last few days. Eugene was letting his bad luck bother him. Sheena lost her happy attitude, and now Lila had proved everyone possesses a dark side.

Arnold held his pencil in both his hands, twirling it around, ashamed at himself for not being able to fix all of this until he suddenly felt something wet hit the back of his head.

 _Was that a…?_

It couldn't be a spitball. He couldn't remember the last time Helga had done that to him. Then again, she was pretty upset with him. Even worse, there wasn't anything he could do about it. For the next few hours, all he could do was use those as a way to distract himself from thinking about how to fix the rest of the class.

When it was finally time for lunch, Arnold turned around to see his girlfriend already standing. "Helga, can we talk?"

Rolling her eyes with her hands on her waist, Helga scoffed "I don't know? That seems like a pretty realistic thing to do Mr. Fantasy Land."

Phoebe stood behind her emotionally conflicted friend as she took notice of the pleading look in Arnold's eyes. Placing a hand on Helga's shoulder, Phoebe said "Perhaps the two of you should take a moment to discuss your quarrels Helga."

"Pttss...why? Just so I can be shoved to the bottom of _his_ priority list just like….uhhh" Helga froze in the middle of her sentence, realizing how many emotions she was publically revealing.

Arnold watched as her face turned beet red, knowing what she was referring two. His heart began to ache at the idea of causing her the same pain her family created for her each day.

Taking her hand in his, he said "I'm really sorry Helga."

Helga looked down to feel him rubbing her hand while carrying a guilty look on his face. It didn't matter if he was sorry for his actions. As long as he remained in the sorry emotional state he had been in, nothing mattered. What was the point in caring if he paid attention to her, if she was just going to have to watch him mope? Watch him imply that being with her wasn't enough to make him happy as long as there were others out there suffering.

"Just forget about it." she sighed, leaving the room, not caring if her best friend was following her or not.

Gerald rolled his eyes at the distraught couple. Had they just taken a moment to talk things over, as Phoebe suggested, things could have been easily sorted out.

"Is she going to be okay Phoebe?" Arnold asked worriedly.

"I'm afraid I don't know Arnold." she replied, bringing a shocking look to his face. Phoebe always had a logical explanation as to why Helga was acting the way she was, or what the solution to the problem would be.

After watching Phoebe leave the room to catch up with her friend, Gerald shook his head and said "I'm not going to stand here and pretend that I get her, but as far as your relationship goes, Pataki seems to see your 'solving other people's problems' as your own personal business that you're doing way too much overtime for."

"What am I supposed to do Gerald? I just apologized to her."

"You apologized for ignoring her. You didn't say you were throwing in the towel on this whole 'fix it' business of yours."

 _Cafeteria_

Sitting at a table with her arms folded in front of her, Helga listened to her friend try to comfort her yet again. "If I may say so Helga, I'm afraid this isn't a situation that will solve itself without any communication being involved."

Helga turned to glare at her friend, knowing what she was trying to encourage her to do. "So I'm just supposed to march over to headboy, point a finger at him and say 'News flash bucko. _I'm_ the one you should be pining over? Pttss...yeah, I don't think so."

"Well, as I said before, this could be a great opportunity for you to prove to him you'll always be there for him in his time of need." Phoebe reminded her, although it didn't appear to be doing much good.

Helga couldn't help but roll her eyes at the remark. As annoying as it was to see Arnold so concerned over something as simple as being there to help other people, it didn't seem right for anyone other than him to do it.

Letting out a deep, frustrated sigh, Helga noticed an angry girl marching past her table.

 _This should be good..._ she thought to herself, as she watched Lila approaching their classmates, who were laughing viciously at the sight of Eugene vomiting after eating what happened to be expired tapioca.

Standing before the boys with her hands on her waists, Lila glared and said "I'm ever so certain you shouldn't be laughing at him!"

"Why not?" Sid asked, doing his best to hold back his chuckles.

"Yeah, that was a mighty fine prank Harold just played on Eugene." Stinky said.

"I'm ever so certain it wasn't!"

The boys all began to grow wide eyed, never having heard Lila act this way before.

"Hey, wait a minute. You're not supposed to be mean?" Harold pointed out.

"No Harold! And you shouldn't either!" Lila demanded, marching away from the table.

The cafeteria went silent as the students all wondered what could have gotten into their sweet friend.

"Do you believe she's going to be okay Helga?" Phoebe asked, watching the angry redhead leave the room.

"How the heck should I know? I'm not her freakin' therapist." Helga scoffed, having been the only one actually entertained by Lila's outburst that day.

 _Classroom_

The students began returning to the class to see Arnold and Gerald hadn't left the room. While Phoebe didn't hesitate to take her seat, Helga stood in the doorway a moment, wondering if Arnold would even care to see her.

After seeing his eyes continuing to remain on the sheet of paper he was writing on, Helga headed towards her desk.

As frustrated as she was, the idea of shooting more spit balls at him seemed a bit pointless. He already knew she was upset and the reason for it. Repeatedly firing wet ammo wasn't going to change his feelings about wanting to help other people (no matter how much she meant to him).

While Helga sat moping in her desk, Phoebe couldn't help but take a look around the room at not just her best friend, but all of her fellow classmates. Arnold the optimist, seemed to have hit his low point. Eugene, Mr. Sunny Side Up had never been more down. Sweet Sheena was experiencing the horrors of depression, and Lila had proven the name 'Little Miss Perfect' to be a myth.

Who would be the next victim from Mr. Simmons' list of Quarter Life Crisis the class had yet to realize they were experiencing?

When the bell at last ended classes, Arnold turned to look at his girlfriend and said "I'm really sorry Helga."

Rolling her eyes as she grabbed her things, she scoffed "Yeah, you said that already."

"Well, if you're not too mad at me, I'd like to walk you home." Arnold smiled weakly.

Helga looked into his hopeful eyes. It was obvious the last thing he meant to do was hurt her. The whole reason he was moping was because he couldn't stand the idea of seeing other people hurting.

"Alright football head."

 _Hallway_

As the kids were all leaving the classroom, Lila took notice of the desolate looks on her friends' faces that once again caused rage to bubble inside her.

"AHHH!" Sid screamed, watching her angrily march past him down the hallway, as he hid behind his locker door. After her angry performance in the cafeteria, he wasn't looking to set her off again.

Once the angry girl was out of sight, Sid stepped out of his locker "Phew!"

"Ya reckon she's been hanging out with Big Patty?" Stinky guessed.

"Maybe. I just know I don't like sitting next to her in class anymore." Sid replied.

 _Walk_

Walking side by side towards Helga's house, she continued to stare straight ahead as if she were alone, until she listened to Arnold say…

"I didn't mean to ignore you Helga."

"Yeah, I think you made that clear after pleading for my forgiveness." she scoffed.

"It's just hard for me to look at other people having problems and not being able to do anything about it." he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

A guilty look formed on her face as she looked over and said "Look Arnoldo, I don't know what it's going to take to convince you it's not your job to fix everyone else's problems. This isn't the Green Eyed Village. You don't have to act like a god to our friends."

"I know, it's just…"

Seeing the sad look on his face, Helga took his hand in hers and said "Everyone needs a break every now and then. Judging by how long it's been since you've taken one from this 'fix it' business of yours, I'd say that might explain your sloppy service recently."

"Whatever you say Helga." Arnold sighed.

The two continued to hold hands down the street until they at last arrived at her house. Although she felt the tension between them had been fixed, Helga could see he was nowhere near back to his normal self. She wasn't enjoying being the uplifter in the relationship.

"Well, see you tomorrow football head." she sighed, feeling him rub her hand.

Arnold looked into what seemed to be a set of disappointed eyes. Ones he knew he had to be the cause of. Helga had told him his most admirable quality was his optimism. He hadn't done too great a job implying it the past few days.

The sorrowful look on her face which he knew he was the cause of was even more painful than the thought of not having the solution to the rest of their friends' problems. Unable to take anymore of it, he pulled her close to kiss her. Holding her arms tight as their lips pressed together, the thought of losing her to what almost seemed a life long dedicated task of his seemed overbearing.

An eerie thought entered his mind as this was taking place…

 _I made her feel neglected all because I cared more about fixing someone else's problems….which she considered to be a job. It's almost like I'm acting like her...DAD!_

Pulling away quickly from her, Helga cocked her brow at the shocked expression he was wearing and asked "Everything okay football head?"

"Uhhh yeah. I'm sorry. I'll see you at school tomorrow." he said, eagerly waving goodbye.

Helga stood on the porch as she watched him race away. What could be on his mind _now?_


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: I've Lost It

It was nearing the end of the most depressing week the students have ever known themselves to be in the middle of. One unfortunate event knocked another kid's confidence over like a stack of dominoes. Who was capable of fixing this?

 _P.S. 118 Hallway_

"So, you work things out with Pataki?" Gerald asked, watching Arnold grab his books from his locker.

"Uh sort of." he yawned, struggling to keep his eyes open.

"What do you mean _sort of_?"

"I guess I just started to realize some things when we were saying goodbye to each other."

"Based on the way you're struggling to stand, I'm assuming you spent all night thinking about these things?" Gerald asked, lifting an eyebrow.

 _*Previous Night*_

 _Arnold's Kitchen_

"Oh you beautiful doll you great big beautiful doll! I don't know the words and I don...Hey! Whatcha doing up shortman?!" Phil asked, entering the kitchen.

As Arnold sat at the table with a glass of water, he sighed and said "I've just got some things on my mind is all."

"Still having girl trouble?" Phil asked, taking a seat beside his grandson.

"Well, I apologized to Helga for ignoring her. When I did that though, I realized I've been so hung up on fixing everyone else's problems, it's almost like I see her as second to that. I must have made her feel the same way her parents do."

"Hmmm that's a problem."

"I'm just so lost right now. Normally I can help people and she doesn't have a problem with it. Now the class is falling apart and she's angry that I keep trying to help everyone."

"Well you can't fix everyone's problems shortman. If she really likes you though, she won't let something as silly as your need to manage a few social disputes come between you."

"Uhhh thanks grandpa."

 _Classroom_

"Arnold seemed quite relieved at the idea of being allowed to walk you home yesterday." Phoebe pointed out, as her best friend sat moping in her desk.

"What's your point?" Helga scoffed, not seeing a bright side to what was being mentioned.

"Well, his intense concern for what your response to his request would be showed how much your feelings truly mean to him."

Rolling her eyes at the memory, Helga couldn't help but bring up how the afternoon had ended between the two of them. "Yeah well, just because he was anxious to walk me doesn't mean he was anxious to stay."

"Perhaps if…" As Phoebe was about to dig deeper into the matter, the girls turned their heads towards the doorway to hear…

"AHHHH!"

Sid held his hat, shaking with fear as an evil eyed red headed classmate of his stood glaring in the doorway.

"I'm ever so certain you're in my way Sid!"

"Huh? Me? Oh Gosh let me just um move…" Sid said nervously, watching Lila march past him with her fists clenched.

Rolling her eyes at Lila's pathetic attempt to make an angry statement, Helga smirked "Oh how the mighty have fallen."

After having gotten a good chuckle out of it, Helga turned to once again face the door, seeing her boyfriend entering the room.

Rather than getting her hopes up about him having recovered from his sorrowful mind state, Helga pulled out her notebook and began working on her poem.

Arnold felt a painful flinch in his heart when he saw the interest leave Helga's eyes as he entered the room, and watched her direct her attention to the notebook in front of her.

 _She must be mad at me for running away from her_

There was still a minute or two before the bell was supposed to ring. Looking over to see Eugene sitting quietly staring at his folded arms on his desk, Arnold thought back to what Phil had told him the previous night…

 _Even if Helga is mad at me, she won't let my helping our friends ruin our relationship. I can't just sit here and continue to watch him be miserable!_

Gerald looked to see his friend leaving his desk to approach the other side of the room. He had his own opinion of how Arnold's constant concern for their classmates was going to affect his and Helga's relationship.

It was clear the two of them didn't want to hurt each other. Judging by the way they were choosing to exclude one another from certain aspects in their own lives however, that was the only thing they _were_ doing to each other.

Approaching the sad, clumsy boy in his desk, staring at his folded arms, Arnold asked "Hey Eugene. How's it going?"

"Okay I guess."

A small smile formed on Arnold's face, this having been the most optimistic response he'd heard from his classmate all week.

"Do you want to hang out after school? Maybe we could go to the aquarium!" Arnold said excitedly; anything he could do to lift Eugene's spirit.

"I can't do that Arnold!" Eugene said, giving Arnold an absurd look.

"Why not?"

"Because I'm a jynx, remember? No one needs to be around me. You should go before something bad happens to you."

"But Eugene I…"

"Just go Arnold."

Slumping back towards his desk, Arnold took a seat in his chair as he listened to his best friend say "Well, win some lose some buddy."

The students then turned their heads towards the door as they listened to their giddy teacher enter the classroom. "Hello class! This morning we can go ahead and continue our Science lecture we started on yesterday, which I'm sure you all found to be quite exciting!"

While propping his head in his hand as the teacher was speaking, Arnold began to hear vigorous scratching coming from behind him.

 _I wonder what she's doing back there?_

While most of the class' minds were on the lecture, Helga was busy working on her poem. That is 'attempting' to work on it. As she had said, Arnold was the key to her motivational writing. His bright sided way of thinking was the inspiration behind her work. How was she supposed to write a poem (let alone one about herself) with his encouraging attitude being as far gone as it was?

" _Writing is my thing, my…." Criminy that sucks!_

" _Being in charge is the way to go…." Oh get over yourself!_

" _Helping others when…." Pttss...Yeah, he'll fall for that._

As Helga erased idea after idea, Phoebe turned her head to see the frustrated look on her friend's face. She had never known Helga to have so much trouble on a writing assignment. Then again, she also knew there were very few things Helga favored about herself.

No one in her family had ever given her a reason to believe there was anything about her worth being proud of.

After erasing a notebook's worth of poems, Helga listened to the bell for lunch ring. Arnold turned around to face his girlfriend and asked "What were you working on?"

"Pttss...Simmons' stupid poetry assignment! How am I supposed to write about something I value about myself when I've got nothing to choose from?" she scoffed, leaning back in her seat with her arms crossed.

Arnold's eyes widened at her response. Although she wasn't the type to go around bragging about her traits as Rhonda was, she had always been proud of her reputation. Surely she could find something to work with from that, or was she really that lost without him?

"I'm sorry Helga. Let's just get some lunch and not worry about it right now." he suggested, holding his hand out for hers.

Helga thought he had a lot of nerve, insisting she push aside her concerns when he was having such a hard time ignoring his. Be that as it may, she was just grateful for the attention being received from him.

 _Cafeteria_

As the girls sat alone at a table, waiting for the boys to return with the food, Phoebe watched her friend staring sadly at the table, leaning her head in her hand.

"I gather you were attempting to complete your poem earlier this morning?" Phoebe asked hesitantly.

Rolling her eyes, Helga lifted her head and said "Who cares? It's not like I accomplished anything more than ruining my eraser. Sheesh!"

While the girls were discussing the assignment, the boys were moving through the lunch line.

"You may want to grab yourself an extra soda." Gerald said, taking notice of his friend's still tired facial expression.

"No, I'm okay Gerald. I…."

Arnold then suddenly heard what sounded like sobbs from a few feet away. He turned to look across the cafeteria and saw Sheena crying alone at a table.

Arnold anxiously grabbed his tray, half way out of the line.

"Aren't you going to grab your lady a tapioca?" Gerald asked, lifting an eyebrow at Arnold's anxious exit of the line.

"Uhhh...that's okay."

"Whatever you say Arnold."

Arnold hurried back to the table to set the food down in front of his girlfriend. A small smile formed on Helga's face, not caring he hadn't grabbed them any dessert. She was just ready to have him sitting beside her with his arm wrapped around her.

She was rather quick to get her hopes up however. No sooner had she reached for the burger sitting on the tray in front of her, she looked up to her boyfriend racing across the cafeteria.

"What's _his_ hurry?" Helga asked, cocking her brow.

Phoebe then turned in her seat to see Arnold heading for Sheena's table. After realizing what he must be up to, she turned to she her best friend gritting her teeth viciously. Watching the juice flow from the burger Helga squeezed tightly in her hands, Phoebe knew Helga must be hiding something.

 _Sheena's Table_

Taking a seat beside the lonely girl, Arnold placed a hand on her shoulder and said "Hey Sheena."

*Sniffle* "Oh hello Arnold."

"Are you alright?" he asked hesitantly, unsure of how to help her.

"I'm so worried about Eugene Arnold! He won't talk to anyone!" Sheena exclaimed, with puffy red cheeks.

A frown formed on Arnold's face, knowing he had already tried helping Eugene. If that was the only way to make Sheena feel better, he didn't see much luck forming in this situation either.

 _Helga's Table_

"Where's Arnold?" Gerald asked, making it back with his food.

"I'm afraid Arnold has yet again felt the need to solve a social crisis among our classmates." Phoebe leaned in to whisper to her boyfriend, hoping to avoid eye contact with Helga.

Gerald turned to see his friend comforting their depressed classmate. He knew this was just the type of person Arnold was, and the class would indeed be lost without him. Gerald then turned his attention to Helga, seeing her vicious eyes still focused on her boyfriend in a seat that wasn't beside _her._

Not looking to be in the middle of the drama, Gerald decided to check on Arnold.

After watching her boyfriend walk away, Phoebe decided to interrupt her friend's aggravated state and said "If I may be so bold as to ask, what exactly is it you're upset about Helga?"

Practically slamming her burger on the tray, Helga scowled "Are you kidding?! Look at football head over there once again trying to spare someone the trouble of taking an anti-depressant!"

"Is Arnold's optimism not what you've always admired about him though Helga?" Phoebe frowned, hoping to get to the bottom of her friend's frustration.

"Well, yeah. But…."

"I would think you would be more supportive of a trait you find to be so admirable?"

"It's not that I don't approve. It's just...just...oh for crying out loud!" Helga scowled, storming out of the cafeteria, leaving Phoebe alone with her thoughts.

As his girlfriend was leaving the cafeteria, Arnold was leaving Sheena's table to see Gerald approaching him.

"Oh hey Gerald."

"Hey man. That do gooder business of yours doesn't even allow lunch breaks?" Gerald asked.

Rolling his eyes as the boys headed back towards their table, Arnold asked "Where's Helga?"

"I'm afraid I don't know." Phoebe replied, as a perplexed look came to Arnold's face.

 _Restroom_

Leaning over the sink, eyeing her shameful self in the mirror, Helga pouted to herself…

"Oh why am I such an idiot?! Why have I allowed my own life's problems to create a guilty conscience for Arnold and his desire to help those in need? Why can't I speak the truth of my troubles? Why must I continue to hide…."

"Helga?"

"Phoebe! Sheesh!" Helga scowled, whipping around to see her friend standing behind her.

"Forgive me for startling you Helga. I simply wanted to check on you."

"I'm okay Pheebs. Let's get to class." Helga sighed, following her friend out the door.

 _Classroom_

"Look man, if you ever intend to make things work between the two of you, I suggest you push this messiah business of yours aside for a day and make Pataki fess up."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Arnold asked, not knowing what his friend could mean by 'fess up.'

"Unfortunately, you weren't there to see the beating her claws gave to that burger you brought her when she laid eyes on you speaking with Sheena."

Arnold's eyes then widened, not knowing why that would upset Helga. "Was she jealous? All I was doing was checking on her?"

"Beats me." Gerald said, as he turned to see the girls entering the room.

While Phoebe went to take her seat, Helga stood in the doorway, blushing at the sight of her boyfriend. Knowing Gerald had seen her angry reaction made her wonder how much he had told Arnold about it.

Doing her best not to make eye contact, she hustled to her seat. Arnold immediately turned to his girlfriend to say "I can explain about lunch Helga."

Tugging at her collar, embarrassed by her actions, Helga said "Hehe...don't mention it."

Resting his hand on hers, he said "Can we talk after school?"

Helga didn't want Arnold to get wise to what was going on in her life. As much as she had been wanting to spend all their free time together, she didn't want to spend it talking about each other's problems.

"Uhhhh…."

Before she could respond, Mr. Simmons walked in, ready to begin their math lesson. Arnold turned to face the front of the room, anxious to know Helga's answer.

Helga sat through class the rest of the afternoon thinking to herself…

 _Talk? He wants to talk? If we talk I have to tell him why I've been so overly obsessed with wanting all his attention focused on ME recently. Criminy! I'm not ready to tell him!_

After an afternoon of emotionally debating as to whether or not talking with her beloved would be the way to go, Helga watched him turned to face her once again. "So, do you want to come back to my place?"

"I...I….guess so" Helga stuttered.

 _Hallway_

"I'm still unsure of what to make my most admirable trait." Rhonda said to Nadine, standing in the hallway. As she began reminding her of all 'admirable' traits she had picked to choose from about herself, she saw Lila passing them in the hallway.

"Oh Lila! We need your opinion on something."

"I'm ever so certain I don't have time for your stylish concerns Rhonda." Lila smirked, continuing down the hallway.

"Well I never!" Rhonda turned her nose up at the changed girl, as Nadine asked "Don't you find everyone's behavior this week strange?"

"No offense Nadine, but our classmates weren't exactly normal to begin with." Rhonda smirked, seeing Nadine roll her eyes.

 _Walk_

Holding his girlfriend's hand down the sidewalk, Arnold took notice of the worried look on her face and asked "Is everything okay Helga?"

"Oh fine, just fine." she said quickly, gulping to herself.

Arnold let out a small sigh, wondering how right Gerald was. Was she just growing sick of his helpful nature and too scared to tell him?

The two then turned their heads to hear…

"I'm ever so certain you shouldn't be doing this!"

Arnold and Helga looked over to see Lila pointing a finger at the Jolly Olly man, who was denying Harold a Mr. Fudgey for not having anything smaller than a ten dollar bill.

"Listen missy! I don't have to break that bill if I don't want to!" The Jolly Olly man yelled.

"And I'm ever so certain you do!" Lila scowled, leaning over the window of his truck.

Annoyed by the angry yet polite girl's attitude, the business man snatched the money and said "Fine! Now take your crummy change and get out of here would ya?!"

As Harold watched Lila walk away, bewildered at his new possible bodyguard, Arnold and Helga saw her approaching them.

"Umm hey Lila." Arnold said.

"Hello Arnold." she sighed angrily.

"How are you?"

"Not so good. Sheena is still oh so sad because of Eugene." Lila explained, while Helga did her best to hold back a laugh.

Helga watched a despairing look form in her beloved's eyes, as he took notice of the fact that their friends were all acting so strangely….and he hadn't been able to fix it.

"I'm sorry. You don't have to let it bother you though." he insisted, not realizing what a hypocritical suggestion that was.

"I have to go Arnold." Lila said with a frustrated tone, ignoring his advice.

"Pttss...if I didn't know any better, I'd think she was trying to replace me. Poor twisted freak." Helga scoffed.

 _Boarding House_

As the two teens stood on the porch, Helga watched Arnold open the door for the line of pets to pour out. Seeing Helga wait patiently without complaining about the commotion caused by this was another concerned sign he saw.

The two then entered the boarding house to hear someone in the kitchen "He-yaw!"

"What the heck was that?" Helga asked, cocking her brow at her boyfriend.

"Oh, my grandma must be making dinner."

"And she feels the need to act like a ninja to do it?" Helga smirked, seeing Arnold roll his eyes.

"I guess so."

 _Arnold's Room_

Taking a seat on his bed, Helga sat nervously, staring at the floor. Thoughts began racing through her mind, unsure of how the conversation would go. All she could do was hope the attention would remain on Arnold and the way _he_ had been acting recently.

Arnold then took a seat beside his girlfriend. Taking her hand in his, he said softly "I'm really sorry that I've made you feel left out lately. I promise I wasn't trying to ignore you."

Glad as she was to not have her actions questioned, she couldn't handle the guilt of his sorry facial expression. "Don't mention it football head." she sighed, not wanting to make eye contact with him.

"I just thought you liked when I helped people. I know in a way it gets on your nerves, but you also reminded me how admirable my optimism is." he said, rubbing her hand as her heart began to ache.

"Arnold, you didn't do anything wrong." she said sternly, not sure of how much more she could take.

"I didn't do anything right either." he sighed, thinking about the way he had failed to make their friends go back to their normal ways.

"What are you talking about?" Helga cocked her brow, turning to face her boyfriend.

"I haven't been able to help anyone all week. All I've ever been known for is solving problems. Now the fact that I'm unable to help everyone seems to just be creating a huge problem for the two of us. I just seem to be losing my confidence. It's almost like…"

"Oh come off it football head! Stop it! Just stop it!" Helga scowled, unable to take his sulking.

"Stop what?"

"For crying out loud, none of this is your fault, alright?"

Shrugging his shoulders, he asked "Then why have you been so upset lately?"

"Because I...I…" she struggled to let out, squeezing her eyes shut tightly, as he continued to rub her hand softly.

"Just tell me please!"

Letting out a deep sigh, Helga opened her eyes to look at her beloved's. She could see how desperate he was to know the truth. Yet, she could also picture the terrible look of disbelief that would be showing in them once he had heard the truth.

"I have to go Arnold." she sighed.

"Helga please tell me what's going on!"

"I just can't okay? At least not right now." she said irritably, holding back her tears.

As Arnold watched her walk out the door, he sat there wondering what she could be hiding that was to unbearable to share with him?


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Hang Onto Your Happiness

Friday had at last arrived and no one was more anxious for the week to end than Arnold. Every morning he entered the classroom seeing a new friend being held hostage by a life crisis symptom.

HEY ARNOLD! HEY ARNOLD! HEY ARNOLD!

It was Arnold's second night, not having gotten much sleep. Turning over to shut off his alarm, he continued to lay under the covers a moment. As he let out an exhausting sigh, he thought to himself…

 _What could Helga be hiding from me?_

 _Helga's House_

Arnold wasn't the only one who hadn't slept well the previous night. Rather than having to worry about being awoken by the obnoxious banging of her perky sister on her bedroom door, Helga was awake and ready to get up.

As she went to her closet to grab a clean jumper, she couldn't help but take a moment to greet her beloved.

Pulling back the clothes hanging in front of the replica she had made that week of him, she took a seat on the floor and stared sadly at the small figure. Each week she found a new collection of 'seemingly useless junk' to rearrange and marvel at.

 _Oh Arnold! What am I to do? My approaching troubles have lead to nothing but forcing you to question your skills. Who am I to compare your admirable nature to…._

"Helga!" A voice called from outside her room.

Helga stepped out of her closet, unsure of how much more she could take. Ever since she had gotten the news, her family hadn't given her a moment's peace. Not exactly the type of attention she had been waiting to one day receive from them.

 _P.S. 118 Hallway_

"Maybe you could focus on something that doesn't have to do with your interests."

Ten or fifteen minutes before class was ready to begin, Nadine stood in the hallway with her friend, trying to give her idea for her poem.

"And why may I ask would I do that?" Rhonda sneered, turning her nose up at her friend.

"Well he did say this is supposed to be about something we _value_ about ourselves. You could probably come up with a more meaningful trait than clothes or money." Nadine explained, hoping to reach her friend.

"Oh Nadine, that is so…CRASH!"

"OW!"

The girls then turned their heads to see Eugene had slipped on a candy bar wrapper and slammed his head on a locker.

"Uhhh!" Rhonda smirked, tired of having her ideas interrupted.

 _Classroom_

"If I may ask, how did you enjoy your time with Arnold yesterday?" Phoebe looked over at her friend, who had been writing in her notebook since they entered the room.

Helga couldn't just tell Phoebe she ran away from Arnold. Phoebe would want to know why and then try to help her. There was nothing anyone could do in this situation however.

"Don't worry about it Pheebs." she sighed, not carrying to see the concerned look on her friend's face.

As Helga went back to writing in her notebook, Phoebe looked up to see the boys entering the classroom.

"Hey babe, how's it going?" Gerald asked, happy to see his girlfriend.

Phoebe glanced over at her best friend's troubled expression, unsure of how to answer that.

"I'm doing well I suppose."

After answering him, she looked over at Arnold, seeing the depressing look in his eyes as he stared at his girlfriend who hadn't looked up from her notebook.

 _If I asked her again what's going on, would she tell me?_

"Helga?" Arnold asked, taking a seat in his desk.

Glancing up from her notebook with her head still in her hand, Helga asked "What is it football head?"

"Are you okay? You left my house if kind of a hurry last night?" he reminded her.

Her eyes began to widen, not wanting him to say more than that to anyone. She had revealed enough to him when she said…

 _I can't tell you what's going on...at least not now._

"Uhhh I'm fine. Just a little tired hehe." she gulped, facing down at her notebook.

Shaking his head after seeing her once again take her attention away from him, Arnold turned to hear…

"Okay class! I'm assuming you've all chosen your poetry topics by now." Mr. Simmons smiled, as he approached his desk.

"Uhhh no?" Sid said nervously, doing his best not to make eye contact with the angry redhead sitting beside him.

"Well if you're having trouble, you could always think about things you're good at. Things that make you 'special' to other people."

After listening to this suggestion, a frown formed on Arnold's face. What he knew he had always been admired for no longer seemed to be a part of him.

As Arnold sat in his desk moping, no longer having confidence in himself, Helga sat behind him, wondering how much longer she could keep this secret…

 _What am I supposed to do? If I tell him, I hurt him. If I don't tell him, I hurt him! There's no one on the planet with worse luck than me…_

"OW!"

Helga's thoughts were then interrupted as the class turned their heads to see Eugene had fallen out of his desk, trying to grab a book from his backpack.

"Oh, oh my Eugene! Are you alright?" Mr. Simmons asked, worriedly.

Sitting himself back up, Eugene sighed "What does it matter? Nobody cares."

Arnold blinked in bewilderment, never expecting to hear such a bold response to a teacher's question.

"Umm Eugene, I would like to speak with you after class if you don't mind." Mr. Simmons said worriedly.

Once classes had ended, Arnold turned to his girlfriend who hadn't seemed to notice it was time for lunch.

"Umm Helga?"

"Huh? What?" she lifted her head nervously.

Widening his eyes at her nervousness, he was tempted to ask _Are you ready to eat?_

Instead, he decided to ask "Will you come with me a minute? I need to talk to you."

Normally she didn't like to intervene. Phoebe however was becoming a bit frustrated at the idea of not being the one to solve Helga's emotional conflicts (let alone get to the bottom of exactly what they were).

"If you don't mind Arnold, I would like to speak with her."

Helga looked down as she felt her boyfriend rubbing her hand. Looking over from his sad eyes to her best friend's hurtful ones, she knew what they were both attempting to accomplish. No matter who she chose to go with, they would be spending the free period talking about why she had been acting so strange. There was only one thing she could do.

"Actually, I think I'll just stay here. Ya know, finish my poem." she said nervously.

"But Helga…" Phoebe began, before being viciously interrupted.

"Criminy! What is this; the Spanish Inquisition?! Can't I have a moment to myself?" Helga scowled, snatching her hand away from her boyfriend.

"Sorry Helga." Phoebe chirped, leaving the room with her boyfriend, while Arnold watched Helga plop down in her seat, once again working on her poem.

After her friend's had left the room, Helga looked up to hear a voice say to her "Helga, why aren't you at lunch?"

"Pttss...because I'm not hungry!" Helga scoffed.

"Oh umm well, I need to speak with Eugene, if you wouldn't mind leaving the room." Mr. Simmons politely requested.

Helga began to grit her teeth as she snatched her things from her desk and headed out into the hallway.

Being more concerned about his depressed student than the angry one, Mr. Simmons looked at Eugene and said "Eugene, you've been acting very strange all week."

"Well, I'm just trying not to hurt anybody." he sighed, looking down at the floor.

"Hurt anybody?"

"Yeah. I'm a jynx!"

"Eugene, you're not a jynx. You just umm...tend to have a few accidents every now and then." Mr. Simmons said, hoping to make him feel better.

"I have to go."

 _Hallway_

Sitting in the hallway with her face planted in her notebook, Helga stared blankly unable to think of what to write about herself. There was no one to remind her of how special she was.

She then noticed a shadow forming over her notebook.

"Helga?"

"Huh?!" she asked, nervously looking up to see her boyfriend with concerned eyes.

"What are you doing out here?"

"Me? Oh nothing. Just thought I'd try a new location to get some inspiration for my poem." she gulped, hoping he would accept the excuse.

 _Cafeteria_

"Cheer up babe. You know how dramatic those two can be." Gerald said, hating to see his girlfriend so down.

"I'm afraid Arnold may have been right." Phoebe sighed, looking around the cafeteria at their friends.

"About what?" Gerald asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"Things appear to have taken a turn for the worse with our friends. No advice given to anyone seems to be enough to lift their spirits."

 _Another Table_

"Maybe you could write about your self esteem. Most people envy those who have a lot of confidence in themselves." Nadine said, hoping to help her best friend pick a poetic topic.

"I suppose it would relate to….AHH!"

The girls then looked to see Sid running away from the angry redhead who was not at all pleased to see the last of the tapioca had been taken from the lunch line.

"That's it! I cannot work with these distractions!" Rhonda smirked, leaving the cafeteria.

Marching past the other students, Gerald shook his head at the dramatic performance and said "Mm, mm, mmm. This is definitely not good."

 _Hallway_

Sitting beside his tense girlfriend on the hallway floor, Arnold wrapped his arm around her shoulder and said "I really wish you'd tell me what's going on."

"I told you I can't."

"You said 'At least not right now.' Why does it matter when you tell me as long as you do plan on telling me?"

Arnold then watched his girlfriend bury her face in her hands, as he listened to sobs beginning to form. His eyes widened, as he heard this sad sound leaving her.

He then turned her face to meet his, looking into her sad sapphire eyes. Ones he could see were dying to reveal the information he had been pleading to hear.

Helga then buried her face in his shirt, not caring how wet her tears made it. Arnold wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tight, knowing whatever she was hiding, it wouldn't be good for their relationship.

"I know I won't like it, but you're going to have to tell me some time. It might as well be now." he said, resting his head against hers.

Helga looked up to see just how close their faces were. Arnold took his arms back to wipe away the remaining tears streaming down her face.

"I...I…" she began, as he rested his nose against hers, not seeming to care to hear it anymore.

Knowing she wasn't going to say it, Arnold placed his hand behind her hand, finally pulling her lips to meet his. Helga let out a comforting sigh, as if her troubles had been forgotten.

As he sat there holding her face in his hands, he grew frustrated at the idea of not knowing what was going on with her.

 _What if she's seeing someone else? No that can't be possible. She thinks everyone in our class is an idiot. What is going on then?_

Helga sat there unresponsive, not knowing how to break the news to her beloved. She was so lost in her thoughts, she didn't realize he was practically on top of her.

Before things could go any further, they were interrupted by the sound of the bell.

Arnold jumped off his girlfriend, seeing a petrified look on her face.

"Sorry Helga. I kind of forgot where we were for a second."

"Yeah, I did too. You know what, I should get going." she said, seeing the perplexed look on his face.

"What do you mean get going? We're heading back to class together aren't we?"

"Actually, I've got some things at home to take care of. See you tomorrow football head." Helga said, racing out of the building.

Arnold stood there amazed. His girlfriend was so petrified, the idea of cutting class didn't seem to bother her.

As he stood there in the hall, he felt a hand on his shoulder and a voice that asked "So, you find your girlfriend?"

"Uhhh yeah. She's not feeling well." he said, unsure of what to say.

"Judging by the way the week's been going, I'm starting to believe no one in the class is." Gerald said wittily.

 _Classroom_

Arnold made it back to see everyone sitting quietly in their desks. It was reaching the point where no one cared to speak to each other, be it out of anger or depression.

Not wanting his girlfriend to get into trouble for cutting class, he approached the teacher and said "Mr. Simmons…"

"Yes Arnold."

"Helga wasn't feeling well, so she went to the Nurse's office."

"Oh, oh my! Will she be alright?"

"I think so. She just has a headache." Arnold replied, not liking the thought of lying.

 _Helga's House_

After racing home, Helga took a seat on her front porch with her head rested in her hands, staring sadly at the sidewalk.

Thinking about the mess that had been made this week, she pulled out her locket and said…

 _Oh Arnold! When will I summon the strength to reveal to you the terrible fate that lies ahead of me? The cruel path I'm forever bound to which will forever destroy our long lasting love._

 _Classroom_

The bell for the last class ended that Arnold had anxiously awaited all afternoon. Gerald then watched his friend rise from his desk as he said "What's your hurry man?"

"No time to talk Gerald."

"Uh huh? That's why I asked 'What's your hurry?'" Gerald glared, not receiving a response from his friend.

After watching Arnold rush out the door, Gerald turned to his girlfriend and asked "Did Pataki say anything to you about cutting class?"

"I'm afraid Helga hasn't cared to share any personal information with me recently. I fear she maybe hiding something from us all."

 _Helga's House_

" _Each day I walk down the halls…._ Criminy! This is hopeless!" Helga laid on her bed, tossing another crumpled poem across her room.

As she planted her face into her bed, thinking about the days drawing nearer when she would have to confess the sad truth to her beloved, she heard…

"Hey Helga, you in there? Your little friend Alfred's downstairs!"

"ARNOLD!"

"Yeah, Arnold. Whatever. Anyway, he's downstairs."

Looking around her room, Helga said to herself _He can't be hear right now!_

 _Downstairs_

"It's so good to see you Arnold!" Olga said excitedly, as the two waited for Helga to arrive.

"Thanks. How's your family doing?"

"Oh we're so excited! Daddy got a…"

Before Olga could finish her sentence, Arnold turned his head to see Helga heading down the staircase.

"Hey football head, how's it going?" she waved nervously.

Forgetting about Olga's news, Arnold walked over to his girlfriend and said "I just wanted to make sure you were okay?"

"Okay? Of course I'm okay? Pttss...what a dumb question." she scoffed, turning away from him.

Sensing her nervousness, Arnold took her hand in his, and said "Let's go upstairs and talk."

"Upstairs? Uhhh let's sit outside. Plenty of fresh air." she said, pulling him out the front door.

After being yanked onto the porch, Arnold sat beside his nervous girlfriend as he watched her repeatedly tapping her feet against the steps.

"Soooo…. What'd you want to talk about? Hehe" she asked, hoping not to let her secret out.

Rolling his eyes at her feeling the need to dance around the topic, he wrapped his arm around her and said "I think you know what I want to talk about."

"Umm no? That's why I asked. DOI!" she frowned, feeling him rub her shoulder.

"Why did you run away from me at school? And why have you been acting so nervous around me lately?"

"No reason." she gulped, watching his eyes remain on hers.

Feeling him pull her closer, as if he wanted to make sure she couldn't escape, she listened to him say "I'm not leaving until you tell me."

"Well, I…"

The two then turned their heads to hear "Does Bob Pataki live here? We've estimated the costs."

Arnold lifted at the statement to see his girlfriend's eyes widen. As she jumped up from the porch, hoping her boyfriend wouldn't get wise to the situation, she rushed the man inside and said "Oh uh hey come on in. He's inside. See ya Arnoldo."

"But Helga!"

After having the door slammed in his face, Arnold began his long lonely walk home.

 _Boarding House_

Having opened the door for the line of pets, Arnold walked into the kitchen to see his grandpa reading the paper.

"Hey there shortman! How was school?"

"Not so good."

"Yeah, you've been saying that a lot lately." Phil reminded him.

"Helga seems to have some sort of secret she's afraid to share with me. I told her she can tell me no matter what it is. She won't do it though."

"Secret eh? Did I ever tell you about the time my mom threw me a surprise birthday parth?"

"Uhhh no?"

"Hehe...I was sure that was what they were doing, but they just wouldn't admit to it. I kept bugging them and bugging them about it until finally they said 'Fine! It's a surprise party we're throwing for you!"

"What happened after that?"

"Well, not only was it not a surprise, I didn't see any of the people there I wanted. Just a bunch of long distance relatives I had never cared to meet."

"So what's the point?"

"The point is, not all secrets are worth knowing...at least not right away. Hold onto your happiness as long as possible!" Phil insisted, as he watched his grandson sigh at the table.

"Thanks grandpa."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: I Know The Answer

It had been quite a depressing week. While Arnold was devisted he wasn't able to succeed at his normal problem solving techniques, Phoebe was beginning to feel the same way about not being able to cure her best friend of her troubles. If Helga would just reveal what was going on in her life, Phoebe could give her the emotional support she needed.

 _Phoebe's Room_

After waking up one morning, Phoebe was sitting in her room, trying to think of her most valuable trait to write about.

 _Perhaps it would seem a bit haughty of me to write about my book knowledge?_

Tapping her pencil against the notebook she had rested in her lap, she thought to herself

 _Helga's issues the past week have implied I seem to be failing at my ability to succeed with emotionally supporting others._

Thinking back to the time she had cheated on the poetry contest in fourth grade (despite what Mr. Simmons had told her), Phoebe still felt the word fail could not be in her vocabulary.

That being said, she reached for the phone to call her best friend. As she reached for it, the phone began to rang itself…

RING RING RING…

Phoebe anxiously answered it, hoping it was her best friend.

"Hello?!"

"Hey babe, what's up?" Gerald asked, happy to hear his girlfriend's voice.

"Oh, I'm well I suppose." Phoebe replied, disappointed to not be speaking with Helga.

"Would ya like to see the new Pop Daddy movie with me?"

"That sounds lovely." she said, hoping to hide her uninterested tone. All she cared to do at the moment was check on her friend.

 _Helga's House_

"For crying out loud! Will you look at these costs Miriam? The distance, the insurance rates, the extra workers!" Bob scowled at his hungover wife.

"Huh? What? Oh umm...yeah." Miriam sighed, tilting her glasses, as Helga rolled her eyes in the kitchen.

Sitting at the counter, stirring her cereal in front of her, she thought to herself…

 _How am I supposed to tell Arnold about this?_

Helga sharing her news with Arnold would do nothing more than break his heart. After all, there was nothing either of them could do about it. Just as she was about to take her bowl to the sink, she was grabbed by a set of obnoxious arms.

"Oh baby sister! Isn't this exciting!" Olga exclaimed, not caring about Bob's financial concerns.

"Criminy! Get off me!" Helga scowled, pushing her sister off her, as she headed for the door.

 _Walk_

Walking down the street, hoping to get some inspiration for her poetry topic, Rhonda past a flier hanging in the window of The Corner Store…

 **Auditions for Pre-teen Miss Models**

 _This would be the perfect topic for my paper! My ability to succeed at whatever challenge is thrown at me!_

 _Avon Theater_

"Here's your ticket babe! The commercials made this movie look as righteous as the show!" Gerald said, too excited to notice the frown his girlfriend was carrying.

 _The Boarding House_

As Arnold was heading towards the kitchen, thinking a snack would take his mind off his girlfriend, he past his grandpa sitting in the living room.

"Hey! What's up shortman?"

"Nothing grandpa." Arnold said, taking a seat on the couch.

"Like I said shortman, not all secrets are worth knowing about. Suppose you were to walk up to me and say 'Grandma just slipped some raspberries into your pie.' I'd be spending the next few hours sulking, waiting for the pain to hit me, instead of enjoying whatever time I had before the moment finally came." Phil explained.

"But Helga won't even talk to me?"

"Now ya got a problem!"

 _Park_

Sitting on the bench near the fountain, considering how her fear of soon leaving Arnold had practically driving her to already do that by causing her to keep this secret, she pulled out her locket and said…

 _Oh Arnold! Each moment that passes deprives us of another chance to be together before our no longer existing fate is torn apart by this wretched world! Here I sit lurking in the shadows of my own cowardly ways, too timid and shy to reveal the truth! Alas my love, I shall…_

"I'm ever so certain you shouldn't be doing this!"

Helga quickly put away her locket as she turned her head to see an angry redhead pointing a finger at a familiar student.

 _Avon Theater_

"Mm, mm, mmm! Never a dull moment." Gerald said, leaving the theater more than content with the movie.

"I suppose it did have it's favorable periods." Phoebe sighed, staring at the ground.

Turning to notice the sorrowful look on his girlfriend's face, Gerald lifted an eyebrow and asked "What's up babe?"

"I'm afraid it's Helga. Hard as I try, I can't seem to overlook the fact she's unwilling to open up and confess her troubles." Phoebe replied.

Rolling his eyes at the idea of the whole class having found a reason to go this far down hill, Gerald wrapped his arm around his girlfriend and said "Look babe, you know that girl's never been one to open up. That's why she has my man to look out for her."

"Giving the circumstances, Arnold doesn't appear to be succeeding with her either I'm afraid." Phoebe said, walking away from her boyfriend.

Gerald stood alone with his hands on his hips, shaking his head in frustration, not knowing how much more he could take of this.

 _The Park_

"What are you gonna do about it you wussy fourth grader?!" Wolfgang asked viciously, staring at Lila's angry face.

"I'm ever so certain I may contact the principal!" Lila exclaimed, still worked up over Eugene and Sheena's sorry condition.

"Whatever. I'd like to see ya try."

"Haha Yeah. She probably doesn't even know where his office is, Wolfgang." Edmond laughed, hovering over his friend's shoulder.

"Would you shut up!" Wolfgang shoved Edmond off his shoulder and rolled his eyes at his friend's pathetic attempt to act tough.

After watching the boys walk away, not afraid of her threat, Lila began to march towards the bench Helga was sitting at.

 _Arnold's Room_

Laying in his room, staring through his glass plated ceiling, Arnold through to himself…

 _Maybe I could just go over there? If I do, she might just slam the door in my face again though. How else am I supposed to get an answer out of her though? She won't open up to me at school. Maybe if I…._

RING RING RING

Arnold then turned off of his bed to answer his phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey man, what's up?"

"Not much Gerald."

"Mind if I come over."

"Sure."

 _The Park_

"What was that all about Ms. Goody Two Shoes?" Helga smirked, no longer caring to be polite to Lila.

"Those mean fifth graders see Eugene trip every day and are planning to set up a trap for him to hurt himself again." Lila explained.

Rolling her eyes at how sad it sounded, Helga scoffed "Pttss...why not finish them off yourself? You seem to be taking charge of things lately with that angry attitude of yours."

Lila's eyes widened at the sound of this. Thinking back to everything she'd done the past week, she hadn't realized how bad things had gotten.

"I'm oh so sorry Helga. Please forgive me!"

"Hey, don't look at me. I'm not the one you mentally scarred with your 'oh so terrible' threats."

 _Arnold's Room_

"Now Phoebe's upset?" Arnold asked, amazed at the idea of their stable classmate becoming emotionally damaged by the situation.

"Yeah man. You've got to talk to Pataki! I don't know what kind of crazy business she's got going on right now, but it's not one that's good for our social status." Gerald said, pointing a finger at his friend.

Sitting on his red couch, thinking about his grandpa's words, Arnold said "What if it's not something I want to know about? She's obviously not ready to tell me, which means it's not something I'm going to enjoy hearing."

"Well you certainly haven't been enjoying yourself the past week trying to guess what it is." Gerald reminded him.

Letting out a deep sigh, Arnold said "Alright fine. I'll do it sometime this week."

"Later man." Gerald rolled his eyes at the answer, leaving his friend alone with his thoughts.

 _Walk_

Heading home, sulking at the thought of failing to help her friend, Phoebe failed to keep her eyes on the road…THUMP

Fixing her glasses as she looked up to see who she had bumped into, she said "Oh! Forgive me Rhonda, I didn't see you there."

"No damage done I suppose." Rhonda said, straightening her shirt.

"If I may ask, where were you on your way to?"

"Pre-Teen Miss is holding tryouts this weekend. I requested an audition with them tomorrow. Where may I ask were you headed to?" Rhonda explained.

"Home I'm afraid. Helga's been keeping a secret she doesn't wish to share with anyone."

Grinning widely at Phoebe's troubled look, Rhonda said "I believe I know what it may be…"


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Nothing Stands Out

After Phoebe's interesting conversation with Rhonda, the first thing set on her mind when she awoke was speaking with Helga. Rather than calling and risking being hung up on, she got dressed as quickly as she could and made her way to her best friend's house.

 _Rhonda's House_

After putting on her best sweater, Rhonda went to the mirror to fix her hair for the photos the studio would be taking of her. When she felt she looked her best, she headed for the front door, only to see someone standing there.

"Hey Rhonda! With the weather being as nice as it is, I thought it would be a good day to catch some Malaysian beetles down by the lake. Would you like to come?" Nadine requested.

Rolling her eyes at the request, Rhonda replied "I'm afraid I have more important things to do Nadine. I'm heading to the magazine studio to have my picture taken for this month's cover of Pre-Teen Miss!"

 _Helga's House_

Standing nervously on her friend's porch steps, unsure of how it would go, Phoebe nervously tapped on the door.

With her hands behind her back, she waited patiently until the door swung open in front of her.

"Oh goody a visitor!"

"Hello Olga. If I may ask, is Helga home?" Phoebe requested knowing.

"Oh yes, she's upstairs now!" Olga said, letting the young Asian girl inside.

 _Walk_

Walking down the street with her friend, positive she'd get the part, Rhonda listened to her friend ask "Have you decided on the topic for your poem?"

"This IS my topic Nadine." Rhonda smirked.

"What are you talking about?"

"The whole point was to pick something we value about ourselves. How could someone not value the idea of being picked for something so popular?" Rhonda asked, seeing Nadine roll her eyes at her friend's stuck up attitude.

 _Helga's House_

Nearing the end of the hall towards her best friend's room, Phoebe pressed her ear against the door as she began to hear constant rummaging on the other side.

" _Criminy! How is all this supposed to fit in here?"_

Having listened to her friend's complaint, Phoebe invited herself in.

"Helga?"

"Phoebe!"

"Is it true Helga?" Phoebe asked worriedly, after recalling the information Rhonda had given her the previous night.

 _*Previous Night*_

 _Walk_

"Well, after continuing to have my thoughts on my poem horribly interrupted in the cafeteria Friday, I decided to step outside a moment…" Rhonda began to explain, as Phoebe listened attentively.

"Standing on the playground, alone with my thoughts, I heard yet ANOTHER classmate of ours feeling the need to release their complaints."

* _Another Flashback*_

 _Playground_

"Oh, why am I such an idiot?! Here I'm given so many chances to speak the truth and what do I do? Run away from my beloved when all he wants is the chance to be near me!"

Falling against the brick wall, Helga pulled out her locket to speak to her beloved, as Rhonda listened attentively from around the corner.

"Oh my beloved, if only you knew the truth. If only you knew how much it will pain me to tell you I'm leaving you forever. That we're being torn away from each other. That my family is forcing me to move."

 _Pre Teen Miss Studio_

"Well, here we are Nadine! By the end of the day, I'll have the information I need for my topic and a picture to go along with it!" Rhonda said, excitedly marching through the doors.

Heading proudly towards the front desk with her friend following behind her, Rhonda said "I'm Rhonda Wellington Lloyd and have an appointment scheduled with the photographers today."

Sighing at the proud girl, the receptionist said "Down the hall and to the left."

 _Helga's Room_

"Why didn't you tell us Helga?!" Phoebe insisted on knowing.

"Oh gimme a break Pheebs! You really think it's been easy for me keeping this secret?"

"I suppose not." Phoebe sighed, taking a look around her friends room. Nearly everything was packed away. All that remained out was Helga's poetry books and the shrine she had made of her beloved.

Sitting there, looking at one of the books in her hand, Helga listened to her friend ask "So, when do you plan on telling him?"

Whipping her head around, Helga's eyes widened with fear as she snapped "I can't do that!"

"I'm afraid I don't understand."

"Phoebe, I can't just walk over and say to him 'Listen up football head. My dad's opening a new store, we're moving, it's been nice knowing ya!'"

"Well, you're going to have to tell him eventually? You can't wait until the last moment to reveal such extreme news to him." Phoebe pointed out, watching her best friend, stare down at the book in her lap.

 _Pre Teen Miss Studio_

"Alright next one up!" The director called out, seeing Rhonda approach the stage.

Watching her walk towards him flip her hair, with a wide grin and a poise that screamed _I'm the best_ he simply said "Next!"

Rhonda's face dropped, as she said "Excuse Me?!"

"You heard me kid, you're not what we're looking for."

"Do you know who you're speaking to? I've bought every single copy of your magazines! I own your best merchandise! I know everything there is to know about fashion! You would be lucky to have me!" she screamed, glaring at the unamused man.

"Look kid. You may know a thing or two about fashion, but you've got a lot to learn about personality."

"And what may I ask is THAT supposed to mean?" Rhonda sneered.

"While your clothes are up to date, there's nothing about YOU that screams individuality. The nice hair, the smile, the perfect posture...it's all been done before."

 _Helga's House_

"Promise me you won't tell him Pheebs! Promise me!" Helga pleaded, grabbing her friend by her sweater.

"Well okay Helga, if you're sure."

Letting go of her friend, Helga sighed at the floor, thinking about her boyfriend until she listened to Phoebe ask "Have you at least thought about when you _will_ be telling him?"

Burying her face in her hands, Helga let out a deep sigh as she thought about how things would go when she _did_ reveal the news. Anger for holding back the truth, the more anger for not having anything they could do about it, finally, overwhelming sadness for knowing they would never see eachother again.

"I haven't thought about it."

Placing a hand on her friend's back, Phoebe replied "If I may say so, choosing a place that will give you plenty of time to evaluate your troubles would seem like the appropriate thing to do in this situation. Therefore, as hard as it may be, I would suggest waiting until after school tomorrow to say anything to him."

"Thanks Pheebs." Helga sighed, giving her friend a weak smile. It was never easy sharing extreme information she knew may hurt someone, but the people she knew loved her always knew how to comfort her.

 _Rhonda's House_

Standing in her room, angrily staring in the mirror, Rhonda smirked "Can you believe those people?! Saying I have no personality?!"

"To be fair Rhonda, your attitude is based only on what you and everyone else is wearing. You don't have any interests that make you stand out from the crowd." Nadine said, ashamed to have to point that out to her friend.

"What do you mean, I don't stand out? Do you know anyone else capable of affording the nice things I possess?" Rhonda smirked.

"They don't need you just to show them off Rhonda. If that was the case, they could stick anyone on the cover."

Seeing Rhonda turn around to face the mirror, still frustrated about the situation, Nadine couldn't help but notice a tiny rip on the side of her sweater.

"Hey, what happened to your sweater, Rhonda?"

"What are you talking about?" Rhonda asked, seeing her friend point to the tear on it.

"Uhhh! It must have happened when I left the cafeteria!" Rhonda thought out loud to herself.

"By the way, what exactly were you doing when you left?"

"I simply went outside to clear my head, when I overheard someone once again distracting me from my thoughts." Rhonda smirked.

"What do you mean distracting you?" Nadine asked, lifting an eyebrow at the statement.

 _*Friday*_

 _Playground_

"Oh why am I such an idiot?! Here I'm given so many chances to speak the truth, and what do I do? …"

Hearing Helga's cries from around the corner, Rhonda leaned against the brick wall to get a closer listen.

 _Rhonda's Room_

"Helga's moving?!" Nadine asked anxiously.

"Yes, and good riddance to her!" Rhonda smirked, once again thinking about the way her auditions had gone.

"Does Arnold know about this?"

"How should I know? Besides, if anything this will benefit him." Rhonda insisted.

Seeing she wasn't getting through to her friend, Nadine left, thinking about how while her friend had always been cocky about her looks, she now had to listen to her complain about the failure she had become.

 _Helga's Room_

Giving her friend an enormous hug, Phoebe tried holding back her tears as she said "We'll think of something Helga."

"Pttss...forget it Pheebs. Bob's not going to turn down an opportunity to make his company grow."

"There's still time Helga. Don't give up hope." Phoebe replied, waving goodbye to her friend.

As Helga watched her leave, she turned to take a look at the empty room. So many memories had been made of her dreaming of one day confessing her love to Arnold in that room. Now her last few days in there would be spent dreading the thought of confessing she was leaving him.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Now You Can Tell Me

HEY ARNOLD! HEY ARNOLD! HEY ARNOLD!

Arnold awoke that morning, remembering his promise to Gerald. The class was falling apart and his now unsteady relationship was becoming the core of the problem.

After taking a moment to consider how to confront Helga, he began to get dressed and ready to start his day.

 _Helga's Dining Room_

"Just another couple weeks in this dump!" Bob said excitedly, sitting at the table with his breakfast.

"It's so exciting daddy! Aren't you looking forward to this Helga?" Olga asked eagerly, turning to her sister at the table.

"Oh yeah. I'm all a twitter." she smirked, leaning back in her seat, dreading the moment she'd be seeing Arnold.

"Don't forget to tell that teacher of yours you're leaving. I don't want to be gettin' a bunch of phone calls askin' what happened to you. Got it!" Bob scowled, pointing his fork as his youngest daughter.

"Got it _BOB!"_ Helga smirked, excusing herself from the table.

 _P.S. 118 Hallway_

"So when are you planning on talking to Pataki?" Gerald asked, walking towards the classroom with his best friend.

Letting out a deep sigh, Arnold rubbed the back of his neck and replied "I don't know. She's not going to want to tell me in class. I guess I can ask her to sit alone with me at lunch."

"Man I don't care when you do it, just as long as it gets done." Gerald said, still frustrated with the way the class had been falling apart.

As the boys continued walking down the hall, Arnold couldn't help but overhear…

"Okay, so we'll set up the tray of leftovers to dump on him, then place some soda cans on the floor for him to slip on."

Gerald looked to see his best friend had fallen behind to listen in on a conversation. "What's up man?"

Arnold then gestured for Gerald to come listen in on Wolfgang's conversation with Edmond.

"Yeah, he won't see them because they'll be on the floor." Edmond laughed, annoying his friend.

"Shut up!" Wolfgang explained, walking towards his classroom.

After seeing the two fifth graders head off, Gerald asked "What do you think that was about?"

"I don't know Gerald?" Arnold shrugged his shoulders, continuing to make his way down the hall.

As they were coming up on the classroom, Arnold heard a conversation taking place. Not wanting Gerald to interrupt it, he grabbed hold of his friend before allowing him to enter the room.

"Man, what was that for?"

Rather than responding, Arnold moved as close to the door as possible without being noticed….

 _Oh my! I'm so sorry to hear that! When are you leaving?!_

"Why hello Arnold!"

Arnold quickly turned around to see a smiling redhead. A sight the class had long awaited.

"Oh umm hey Lila. How are you?"

"I'm ever so certain I'm doing just fine. Why are you standing out here?"

"I was just wondering the same thing." Gerald said, lifting an eyebrow.

"Oh well, I'm sorry for the way I've been acting Arnold. Helga made me realize how mean I've been lately, and I'm oh so sorry for it."

Arnold's eyes widened, forgetting about the conversation he heard going on behind him. "When did you talk to Helga?"

"She and I saw each other at the park the other day. Wolfgang made me ever so angry after saying he's planning an evil trick on Eugene."

Putting two and two together, Arnold hesitantly asked "Uhh did he happen to mention _when_ he was planning on doing this?"

"I'm afraid I was oh too concerned about stopping him than I was about finding out when it would be happening."

 _Classroom_

"Have you chosen a location to reveal your news?" Phoebe asked her friend, having already been sitting in her desk.

"I'm thinking about it Pheebs." Helga sighed, resting her head in her hand.

While the girls sat there waiting for the boys to enter the room, Nadine couldn't help but notice the defeated look her classmate was carrying.

"Do you think Helga's going to be alright, Rhonda?"

Rolling her eyes at the question, she smirked "I'm afraid I have more important things to worry about than that girl's sorry excuse for a relationship."

Shaking her head at her friend's inability to show any empathy for their classmates, Nadine went to approach Helga.

As Helga sat doodling in her notebook, she noticed a shadow forming over the page she was drawing on.

Out of habit, she began to scream "Arn...Nadine? What the heck?"

"Hey Helga. I just wanted to make sure you were okay." she smiled, seeing Helga cock her brow in confusion.

"Uh yeah? Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, Rhonda told me you're moving. That can't be easy for you and Arnold."

Phoebe then looked over to see her friend's eyes widening at the idea of the news already being past around.

"Uhhh…." Helga began to stutter, as she directed her eyes towards the door, not knowing when Arnold would be entering.

"Nadine, may I please speak with you a moment?" Phoebe requested, directing her towards the hallway. The two of them were leaving just as the rest of their classmates were entering, leaving them with only a minute to spare before the first period began.

"If I may say so Nadine, Helga is not at all happy about having to share the news with Arnold."

"She hasn't told him yet?"

Shaking her head discouragingly, Phoebe replied "Which is precisely why she would appreciate it if you would be willing to keep this to yourself until further notice."

"Okay, but Rhonda's the one who told me about it." Nadine informed her, pointing out there was no guarantee it would stay a secret for long.

"Yes, I'm afraid to admit she is how I as well found out about it." Phoebe sighed just as the bell rang. The girls rushed back to class, not wanting to be counted as tardy.

After taking her seat, Phoebe looked at the remaining frown on her friend's face and assumed she had avoided speaking to Arnold once again.

After hearing Nadine had found out Helga's news, Phoebe wondered if it would be necessary for Helga to come clean to Arnold. Word was getting spread around fast, and Helga's anxiety wasn't slowing down a bit.

When morning classes at last ended, Arnold let out a deep sigh, knowing what he had to do. Turning around in his seat, he asked "Hey Helga, would you like to eat alone today?"

Nervously glancing up from her notepad, she stuttered "Uhhh….okayyyy."

Taking her hand in his, Arnold lead her to the cafeteria, as their friends stood behind and watched. Shaking his head, Gerald said "Man I hope he gets to the bottom of this."

Giving a disappointed look, Phoebe replied "I'm afraid Helga's condition isn't as simple as it may seem Gerald."

 _Cafeteria_

Sitting alone at a table, nervously tapping her feet as she awaited her beloved to return from the lunch line, Helga thought to herself…

 _This is it! No more hiding it! You can do this! Focus Helga Ol' Girl!_

Seeing a shadow approach from behind, Helga nervously looked up to see her boyfriend had already returned with the food.

"I'm glad we're sitting together. I missed you yesterday." he smiled, placing his hand on hers.

"Uhhh...yeah. I missed you too." she gulped, not knowing where to start with her news.

Feeling him rub her hand, Helga sighed and said "Listen Arnold, there's something I've been meaning to tell you."

CRASH!

Having her thoughts interrupted, Helga looked over to see Eugene had slipped on a pile of soda cans and slid into a wire that caused a tray of leftovers to spill on his head.

"OW!" The poor boy cried, while the rest of the cafeteria laughed hysterically.

"HAHAHAHA Oh man! We got you good! You wussy fourth grader!" Wolfgang pointed, proud of the prank he had pulled.

Having seen this from the other side of the room, Lila's rage was beginning to find its way back to her, as she took notice of the poor clumsy boy trying to regain his balance.

Arnold looked to see her marching past them, out of the cafeteria, as he turned his head towards Helga and asked "Where do you think she's going?"

"Pttss...how the heck should I know?"

After the laughter had begun to die down, Arnold placed his hand on Helga's and asked "What was it you were about to tell me?"

Helga looked down a moment, remembering Phoebe had said it would be best to share the news after school.

"Maybe we should talk about it after school." she suggested, not having the courage to meet his eyes.

"Why can't we talk about it now?" He asked worriedly.

Clenching her fists beneath his hand, she scowled "Because I don't want to okay?! Sheesh!"

Helga watched her boyfriend take his hand back his a hurt look in his eyes. Guilt began to fill her heart as she reached out to hug him, not caring who was watching them. Arnold could once again hear tiny sobs beginning to come from his girlfriend as she rested her head on his shoulder.

 _Another Table_

Phoebe looked over to see Arnold with his arms wrapped around his girlfriend and a sad look on his face. Seeing this implied to her Helga had at last come clean.

"Looks like Arnold got her to spill the beans." Gerald said, looking at his concerned friend from across the room.

"I'm afraid a long distance relationship will be just as torturous to Helga as never having been with him to begin with." Phoebe said, as her boyfriend raised an eyebrow.

"Say that again?"

Knowing there was no need to hide it anymore, Phoebe turned to her boyfriend and said "Helga and her family are moving now that her father has decided to expand his company."

 _Arnold's Table_

Rubbing her back while listening to her constant sobs, unsure of what to say, Arnold at last asked "Please tell me what's wrong? I can't fix things if you don't."

Lifting her head to meet his hopeful eyes with her hopeless ones, she wiped away her tears and said "There IS no fixing things. Not this time Arnold. As admirable as your optimism is, you can't fix _everything!_ "

Normally Arnold could toss a pessimistic thought such as that over his shoulder and continue to search for a solution to the problem. Lately none of the attempts he had made to help his classmates had given him a reason to believe his hopes for a positive life and attitude was worth hanging onto.

"Helga I…"

Before finishing his thoughts, the two heard the bell to end lunch ring, and Arnold watched his girlfriend leave the cafeteria.

Standing alone with his thoughts, Arnold knew he had to find someway to reach her.

 _Classroom_

As she listened to the constant sniffles of her sad friend, Phoebe hesitantly asked "From what I saw, neither of you had an easy time dealing with the news."

Letting out a deep sigh, Helga replied "I didn't tell him Pheebs."

Phoebe's eyes widened, knowing now another classmate knew before Arnold. Not to mention it was his best friend. She then sat anxiously awaiting the return of her boyfriend, praying he hadn't said anything to Arnold.

Moments later they returned, Arnold not seeming to have acquired any new information. He took a seat in his desk, eyeing his depressed girlfriend. Placing a hand on hers, he asked "Will you come to my house after school please?"

"Alright football head."

A weak smile formed on Phoebe's face, knowing there was hope her friend would do the right thing and come clean.

Everyone sat through the last few hours of class, not doing any better than they had the past week. Rhonda no longer cared to be the Queen of Gossip by taking advantage of Helga's condition now that she was struck with the news of fashion not being enough to make her stand out from the crowd.

Lila wasn't having the easiest time overlooking how depressed her friends were, now that their emotional troubles were being taken advantage of.

Phoebe's couldn't do much for her friend in the situation she was put in. Therefore, her advice had limitations and she could only hope Helga would come forward with the truth.

When class at last ended, Arnold anxiously turned in his seat to ask his girlfriend in she was ready to head for his place.

As she grabbed her bag off the floor, she noticed the encouraging smile Phoebe was giving her and said "See ya Pheebs."

 _The Boarding House_

Arnold stood with his girlfriend by the front door as they watched the flood of animals pour past them.

"Sorry about having to deal with this Helga." he blushed, knowing it got on her nerves.

"Eh, still not as bad as seeing Olga." she smirked, following him inside.

As the two entered, Arnold heard his grandpa opening the fridge in the kitchen. He directed Helga towards the room, to see his grandpa fixing himself a roast beef sandwich.

"Hey grandpa."

"Hey there shortman! Got your girlfriend with ya I see! She no longer keeping secrets?" Phil winked, as Helga blushed deeply.

"Grandpa…."

"Oh I'm just messing with you shortman. How was school?" Phil asked, sitting down with his sandwich.

"Pretty good. Nothing exciting happened." Arnold said, not feeling the need to bring up the cafeteria incident.

"Hmmm that's a shame."

"Yeah, well we're going to go upstairs."

 _Arnold's Room_

Taking a seat on his bed, twiddling her thumbs nervously, Helga watched Arnold anxiously approach her.

Seeing the troubled look on her face, he wrapped his arm around her and said "Now you can finish telling me what you were trying to say in the cafeteria."

"Oh right…" she said nervously.

Helga looked at the anxious expression her boyfriend's face was carrying. He wasn't going to say anything. He was just ready to hear what she had to say.

Letting out a deep sigh, remembering Phoebe saying it would have to get done eventually, Helga said "We won't be getting to spend much time together anymore Arnold."

Arnold lifted an eyebrow at the statement, not sure of what she meant. "What are you talking about."

 _Oh criminy! Just shoot me!_

Squeezing his hand tightly, Helga said "Bob's expanding his company. We're moving away."

Arnold's eyes widened at the sound of this. He felt his heart skip a beat as he fell short of breath. Finally able to speak, he said "You're...you're moving?"

Nodding her head gently, she replied "Yeah. Everyone's freakin' ecstatic about it. Watch him do something to flush this business straight down the toilet too."

Helga sat there, watching her speechless boyfriend stare at the floor. Rather than hearing him say something encouraging, it looked at though he was the one waiting to be comforted.

Placing a hand on his back as she rubbed it back and forth, she said "Cheer up football head. We've still got a little time left."

After a moment of sulking at the floor, Arnold looked up at his girlfriend. Staring into her sapphire eyes, all he wanted was to think of something to help her. What good had he been at that lately however?

Taking her face in his hands, he pressed his lips softly against hers. Stroking her cheek with his thumb, he breathed gently against her, wishing this past week had all been just a terrible nightmare.

The two sat there resting their lips against one another, dreading the thought of that being one of the last romantic times they would be sharing with each other.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: That Was Strange

Arnold awoke the next morning, tempted to skip school. Just the thought of Helga and the idea of her soon leaving him made his heart ache with pain. How was he supposed to face her after hearing the terrible truth her future had in store for her?

As he lifted the covers off himself, he didn't bother to consider how tired he still was from not having slept well again. All that would be on his mind now was counting down the days until his girlfriend left him.

 _P.S. 118 Principal Wartz' Office_

"I'm afraid harming another student is in clear violation of the Students' Constitution Act. I have no choice but to suspend you."

"It's not my fault that kid can't watch where he's going!"

"Rules are rules son. See you in two weeks."

 _Hallway_

Walking down the halls with his head hanging low, Arnold listened to his best friend say "Cheer up buddy. Things could still work out."

"How?"

"Her dad might change his mind."

"What makes you think he'd do that?"

"Something else could come up. You know how easily persuaded that guy is when it comes to business." Gerald reminded him.

Although Arnold appreciated his friend's attempt to encourage him, his bright sided way of thinking was long gone.

Not bothering to lift his head from the ground, Arnold was suddenly pushed to the side, nearly losing his balance. "WHOA!"

Gerald caught his friend just in time to see Wolfgang storming past the two of them down the hallway.

"What's his problem?" Gerald asked, helping his friend up.

"I'm certain he's been suspended."

The boys then turned to see Lila standing behind them with a sour facial expression.

As they continued to stare at her, she continued with her explanation. "After the oh so terrible prank they played on Eugene yesterday, I decided to go to Principal Wartz's office."

 _Classroom_

"What am I supposed to write about now that I've been told I have no personality? I can't stoop as low as asking our classmates for advice on what they consider to be a valuable trait." Rhonda raised her voice at Nadine.

No longer caring to give her friend advice, Nadine sat quietly in her desk, awaiting class to start until she noticed an angry redhead marching in.

With her fists at her sides, Lila stomped over to her desk and plopped down angrily with an evil glare that remained on her face.

Taking notice of this, Sid shook in his seat, still unhappy about the idea of having to sit beside her. As he watched her pull her things out of her desk, he watched her pencil fall near his feet.

"I'm ever so certain I need you to hand me that Sid."

"Who, uhh me? Umm okkkaaayyyy… here, here you go." Sid said, nervously handing the pencil the his angry classmate.

Practically snatching it out of his hand, Lila began working on her poem, while Sid sat unable to take his eyes off her every move.

Looking out of the corner of his eye to whom he always went to for help, he saw Arnold with his head resting in his lap, wishing he could go back to sleep. At least in his dreams, he wouldn't have to worry about losing Helga.

While staring at his moping friend, the class then heard their teaching entering the room. "Hello boys and girls! Today's going to be a special day!"

The first thing Mr. Simmons noticed was Arnold with his head down on his desk. "Arnold, are you alright? Arnold?"

Seeing he wasn't moving, Helga leaned over her desk to shake him constantly until he finally began to budge. "Hey football head! Wake up!"

"Huh? What? Oh sorry."

The class began to laugh at how easily he had past out. He began to rub his eyes profusely, forgetting for two seconds about the sad condition his love life was in.

Gerald shook his head at his best friend, while Helga sighed to herself, knowing what must have kept him awake all night. Maybe it would have been best for her to have never said anything to him.

Once classes were over, Helga waited for her boyfriend to turn around and invite her to lunch. Rather than doing so, Arnold headed out of the room alone, without even waiting for Gerald.

Turning towards her boyfriend, Phoebe placed a hand over her mouth with concern and gasped "Oh my! Has Arnold spoken to you about his feelings recently Gerald?"

"No. That boy's hit rock bottom." Gerald sighed, attempting to lead his girlfriend out of the room.

As he turned to noticed she wasn't following behind him, he listened to her say "If it's alright with you, I'd like to have a private conversation with Helga."

Helga looked at her friend, feeling it maybe a bit pointless to do so. Although she appreciated her friend's willingness to cheer her up, there was nothing _she_ could do to actually solve her problems.

"Okay babe."

 _Cafeteria_

"I'm telling you guys! Lila's gone insane! She dropped her pencil near my desk so she could try to murder me with it!" Sid exclaimed.

"I reckon she's gone insane." Stinky agreed, glancing across the room at their vicious classmate.

"Awww you guys are sissys! I'm not afraid of a stupid girl!" Harold said, not having been threatened by her yet.

"Oh yeah? Why don't _you_ go talk to her then?!"

"Why should I? I'm not the one who made her go crazy." Harold said, not caring to prove his bravery to them.

 _Another Table_

Staring at his folded arms against the cafeteria table, Arnold thought about not even having asked Helga when she'd be leaving. Every minute that past was another missed minute of their remaining relationship.

Noticing the devastating look on his friend's face, Gerald set his food aside and said "Look man, I feel for you, but if there was ever a time for that bright sided way of thinking of yours, it's now."

"What can I do Gerald? I can't just march up to her dad and tell him he doesn't have the right to move away."

"Of course you can. You protested every other decision that guy made we disagreed with. Why is your love life any different?"

After shaking his head at the matter, Arnold went back to sulking while Gerald became more and more agitated with every further away step Arnold took from his self confidence.

 _Another Table_

"I bet Arnold could help us if he wasn't so upset!" Sid exclaimed, looking in the sad boy's direction.

"What do ya reckon he's been so upset about?"

"I think it has something to do with Eugene, or Sheena, or…AHH!" Sid anxiously turned around to see Gerald standing behind him.

"Oh hey Gerald." Sid breathed deeply with relief from not being face to face with Lila.

"Hey Sid."

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be eatin' with Arnold?" Stinky asked, full of confusion.

 _Classroom_

"Judging by Arnold's decision to eat alone, I can only assume he didn't take the news well?" Phoebe asked, already knowing the answer.

Leaning back in her seat, not wishing to look her friend in the eye, Helga sighed sadly "Neither of us did Pheebs. It hurt him to hear I'm leaving. When I saw how much it hurt him, it made me realize that spark, that overwhelmingly optimistic bright sided passion he possesses that I've so long admired, is gone forever."

Phoebe watched with what almost appeared to be fearful eyes as she listened to her best friend open up to her.

"He's always been there to comfort me, whether he knew I needed him or not. Now it's as if that one final piece of bad news put out the last bit of light on his positive attitude." Helga continued, not realizing how dramatic she was being in front of her friend.

Perhaps at that point, how she expressed herself no longer mattered. She would be leaving soon; what difference did it make what anyone's opinion of her now was?

 _Cafeteria_

"So we're all agreed?" Gerald asked sternly, making sure no one backed out on the plan.

"I reckon so."

"Yeah, we'll meet at Gerald Field after school." Sid said, anxious to have things back to normal.

 _Classroom_

Lunch soon ended, and the students began entering the class to see Helga and Phoebe had once again chosen to spend their free period discussing their troubles as opposed to filling their stomachs.

Arnold continued to face the floor, not knowing what to say to his girlfriend. After watching him take his seat, Phoebe looked over to see the heartbreaking look in her best friend's eyes. She knew if Helga had any say in her family's decision to move, she would do it in an instant.

While knowing Helga's heart was aching at the thought of leaving him, her friend now knew it was just as troubling (if not more), knowing what the circumstances had done to him. The poor boy she had long admired for his positive behavior now looked at life as she always had. Hopelessly and realistically. Dreaming big wasn't an option when so many negative facts and situations had happened one right after the other, implying the idea that one should just throw in the towel on trying.

After spending the last few hours staring blankly at her beloved, Helga listened to the final bell ring of the afternoon. Without having to bother wondering if Arnold would speak to her, she watched Gerald immediately turn to say to him "Hey man, I've got something to show you."

Not knowing what it could be, Arnold shrugged his shoulders and said "Okay, let me grab my books."

Not bothering to ask if he wanted to talk, Helga headed to exit the classroom that now seemed to be no more welcoming than her home life.

 _Walk_

Arnold followed Gerald, not caring to ask what he needed to show him. The whole way there, his mind remained on how he had done his best to avoid Helga. In his friends' most troubling times, he jumped right on finding a solution to their problem. Now here his girlfriend was, in more trouble than he could imagine. Yet, his idea of helping her seemed to be ignoring her; what he always pleaded with her not to do when she had something to tell him.

 _Helga's House_

Making it home, Helga heard her family still discussing their excitement about the idea of leaving this place behind.

"Make sure we have enough boxes Miriam! I don't want _anything_ getting left behind! No stinkin' way am I driving back for anything!"

"You can use some of mine that all my teaching awards were in! I'm sure there's enough space." Olga said eagerly, as Helga rolled her eyes at her sister's inability to offer help without making herself look good.

 _Gerald Field_

As they were approaching the field, Arnold saw the rest of the boys waiting for them and assumed Gerald had brought him there to play catch.

"Why didn't you let me get my mitt first?"

"This isn't that kind of warm up." Gerald said, glaring at his friend.

"What?"

"Placing a hand on his friend's shoulder, Gerald looked at Arnold and said "Listen man, the class is falling apart, and this self loathing attitude of yours isn't exactly helping to put the pieces back together."

"What do you want me to do? Every time I try to help someone, it just makes things worse." Arnold pointed out.

"That's not true Arnold, you always come through for us."

"Yeah, and figuring out what to do in times of crisis!" Stinky added, hoping to reach his friend.

"Remember the time you helped me get over my fear of germs, or when you talked to Big Gino for me? Then there was that time you convinced me Stinky wasn't a vampire…"

"Uh Sid? What'd you think that for?" Gerald asked, lifting an eyebrow at his friend.

"Ummm nevermind. Hehe." Sid blushed.

"You're a natural born leader Arnold. You helped me figure out I have natural abilities when I won the farming contest." Stinky reminded him.

"What about you Harold? Hasn't he helped you before?" Sid asked anxiously looking in that direction.

"Ummm uhhh let's see? Oh! I remember, the...the time you helped me lose all that extra weight I gained on the cruise I went on!"

"Didn't you go on that cruise to _lose_ weight?" Sid asked, stopping to think about the irony behind the situation.

"Yeah. Now shut up before I pound ya!" Harold threatened, seeing the look of terror forming on his friend's face.

"You see buddy. Everybody needs you around to help them." Gerald insisted, hoping this had been enough to set his friend straight.

"Thanks Gerald."

"Don't mention it. Now go get your lady!"

 _Helga's House_

 _Oh Arnold! Another day passes, while the same dilemma still remains unsolved. Our paths tear further and further apart as time passes by more and more. When shall our eyes at last meet again? Our hearts find the courage to face the truth? When at last shall we…._

"Helga!"

"What?!" The poor girl scowled, tucking her locket back into her shirt, as she laid across her bed.

"Your little friend Alfred's downstairs." Bob scowled,

Anxiously sitting up, Helga took a deep breath, knowing the moment had finally arrived. There was no running away from it.

 _Downstairs_

"How are you Arnold?!" Olga asked, unable to hide her excitement about the move.

"I'm okay. Is your dad busy?" Arnold gulped, doing his best not to rethink his thoughts.

Before Olga could answer, Arnold looked to see Helga approaching the bottom of the stairs. Staring into his nervous eyes, Helga asked "Hey football head, how's it going?"

"Pretty good. Is your dad around?"

Helga cocked her brow, not knowing why he would need to see Bob (let alone care to).

Before replying, Olga butted in to say "Daddy's in the living room watching his favorite tv show!"

"Uhhh thanks Olga." Arnold said, pulling his girlfriend along with him.

Seeing the happy man relaxed in his big chair with a bowl of popcorn and the tv turned to Wheel of Fortune, Arnold gulped as he said "Mr. Pataki?"

Not noticing the soft voice, Bob continued to keep his eyes on the tv, as Arnold once again asked "Mr. Pataki?"

Helga began to grow impatient with the both of them. Deciding to take matters into her own hands, she snatched the remote away from her dad to turn off the tv.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?!" Bob scowled.

"Arnold's got something to say Bob."

"Well make it snappy would ya? I'm missing the wheel!"

"Ummm Mr. Pataki, I don't think it's fair of you to make Helga move."

"Who are you, her lawyer?" Bob scowled, not knowing what business it was of Arnold's.

"Well no, but…"

"Then what business is it of yours? You're just a kid for crying out loud!"

"She's my girlfriend, and I…."

"Well this is MY company I have to think about, and I say we're moving!"

"But you don't know Helga the way I do."

"I've been her father for 7 freakin' years. I think I know her better than you kid!"

Shaking her head at his inability to keep up with her age, Helga scoffed "I'm 13 dad!"

"Whatever! We're moving and that's that!"

Knowing there was no getting through to him, Helga turned to leave the house. Arnold watched her walk out the door as he turned to scream "Helga wait! Helga, Helga, Helga…..EUGENE!"


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: What A Relief

 _P.S. 118_

 _Nurses Office_

"Eugene! Eugene please wake up!"

The clumsy boy slowly fluttered his eyes open to see his sweet smiling friend Sheena in front of him.

"Oh, what happened Sheena?"

"You slipped on a piece of paper and hit your head in a trash can! I pulled you out and brought you to the nurse's office, because I was worried you may have a concussion!" Sheena exclaimed.

Smiling at his sweet friend, Eugene said "Gosh! Thanks Sheena."

As he sat there, holding his head, Sheena noticed a perplexed look on the clumsy boy's face and asked "Is everything okay Eugene?"

"Oh yeah. I just had a really strange dream." he began to explain.

"What kind of dream?"

"Everyone was acting differently. No one was behaving the way they normally do...especially not Arnold!"

"Oh my! That sounds terrible!"

"Yeah. Thank goodness it was just a dream." Eugene sighed with relief, as his friend helped him off the nurse's bed and to the classroom.

 _Classroom_

Entering the room, the first thing Eugene heard was "Are you okay Eugene? Gerald and I saw you fall."

"Oh yeah. I'm fine Arnold, thanks." he smiled, in his usual optimistic voice.

"Pttss...of course he's alright. Mr. Sunshine could run his bike into a brick building and still be smiling." Helga reminded them, still sitting in her desk, listening in on the conversation.

As he went to take a seat in _his_ desk, Eugene heard…

"Thank you ever so much Sid!"

After hearing the sweet, familiar phrase, Eugene turned to see Lila smiling at Sid, grateful for handing her back her pencil that had fallen near his desk.

Hearing her friend let out an enormous sigh of relief, Sheena asked "Is everything okay Eugene?"

Before he could respond to his caring friend, the uncoordinated boy heard an ecstatic voice that couldn't withhold it's excitement.

"You will not believe what I heard yesterday Nadine!"

"What is it Rhonda?"

"Connie from the 6th grade has been dying her hair since she was six years old! Can you imagine what her boyfriend would think if he knew she wasn't a true blonde?" Rhonda's eyes lit with passion, happy to have new personal information about another student to pass around the school.

After seeing everyone acting normally, Eugene turned to face his warm-hearted friend and said "Everything's great Sheena! Thanks again for helping me."

As Arnold sat on the other side of the room, looking at his optimistic friend, his listened to a voice say "So, ya still up for Slausens this afternoon football head?"

"Huh? Oh sure Helga." he replied, giving her his sweet smile and half lidded eyes that always caused her heart to flutter.

Gerald then looked over to see his friend once again glancing in Eugene's direction. "Man, why do you keep looking at him?"

"I just find it amazing that he's always able to keep a smile on his face no matter how many bad things happen in his life."

"Pttss..Not quite as amazing as the way your bright sided way of thinking tends to outweigh the darkness of this entire class." Helga said in a sarcastic tone, while meaning every bit of it.

Placing his hand on his girlfriend's Arnold said "Or as amazing as you."

Doing her best to keep her cool as she held back her swoon, Helga laughed "Well doi! I'm going to buy you a shake, of course I'm amazing."

Seeing Helga blush at the touch of her boyfriend's warm hands, Gerald shook his head at his friends and sighed "Whatever you say Arnold."

 _ **THE END**_

 _ **THANKS FOR READING**_

 _ **PLEASE REVIEW**_

 **starfiction123… Helga's Move was the mystery, but the story being a dream was the SURPRISE ;)**


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